The point of this deck is to play a 2/2 that happens to be relevantly a Dragon, Scarecrow, Ninja, Rebel, Elf, Merfolk, and Wizard. There's currently 33 different relevant creature types in this deck (Unclaimed Territory counted as human as that is the most frequent type named and counting swarmyard only once). My goal with this deck is to say as many of them as possible every game before winning.
Each creature type other than Dragon and Sliver has a maximum of 3 synergy cards not counting lands.
This list below is sorted by relevant creature type. Here is the deck sorted by card type as that is how decks are most commonly posted and it might be more easily digestible in this fashion.
The deck primarily wins via setting up one of the following combos. Although, it can just generally battle-cruiser its way to victory via card advantage synergies with changelings and attacking withwith largedragons. It can also steal games with Liliana's Contract or Gilt-Leaf Archdruid.
I absolutely love this deck. This has the exact amount of spice that I don't see very often for my taste, so I'm literally going to build it! If you look at my Zur the Enchanter deck, with link in my signature, you'll see this is right up my alley.
Gosh there are so many different directions that you can take it in!
These are the cards that I'm personally going to add/change.
Gishath, Sun's Avatar for Dinosaurs, and hitting a bunch of changelings to put them into play sounds like one to write home about. Etali, Primal Storm as well to make top deck manipulation pretty gravy.
Arcane Adaptation. naming whatever is most appropriate at the time. But even naming Dragon is going to make non-changelings cost one less, and with any of the creature searches, you can do broken plays. Like if Moggcatcher is in play for example, name Goblins and start putting Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign and Lathliss, Dragon Queen, etc, into play.
I absolutely love this deck. This has the exact amount of spice that I don't see very often for my taste, so I'm literally going to build it! If you look at my Zur the Enchanter deck, with link in my signature, you'll see this is right up my alley.
Gosh there are so many different directions that you can take it in!
I'm glad you like it so much! I have a blast playing it and everyone else at the table usually has a fun time trying to figure out what the heck I'm doing. It can set up some really sweet engines and strong plays with really weird synergies. I would strongly recommend pulling together a similar pile.
To make your deck construction a bit smoother I have gotten a better grasp on its weaknesses, which I'd like to tell you so that you can minimize them however you best see fit.
1) This deck is extremely mana hungry (which is a polite way of saying mana inefficient). There's a ton of activated abilities (like the rebels and moggcatcher that leave you always without the ability to do everything you want. Yesterday, I wanted to cast Spit Flame multiple times during my turn, and plays like that will just burn through mana.
2) Its card draw is creature based so you can get crippled by a well timed wrath spell. It's easy to over-commit to the board when all your card advantage is in moggcatcher effects or Angel of Flight Alabaster. Getting wrathed with no cards in hand is a good as getting killed.
3) It is interaction light (as you pointed out), which comes with the flavor. I've managed to scrounge a few removal spells together, but most games you spend a lot of it really really hoping to top deck Spit Flame
One thing to note: this deck is full of a bunch of 2/2 and 1/1 changelings. On their own, they're just plain terrible. A vanilla 2/2 is hot trash in any format, even more so in EDH. Keep this in mind while building your flavor of this deck. I was running cards like sigarda, heron's grace and rattlechains, but no one kills your changelings because their not worth bothering with so I just cut them (I'll probably try to sneak her back in because I like her art and flavor so much though). What's bad is when people doom blade your Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign.
These are the cards that I'm personally going to add/change.
So first of all Descendants' Path and Call to the Kindred can be used to put any creature into play if you enchant a changeling.
I use these in my own tribal decks, and add cards like Brainstorm, Worldy Tutor and Vamperic Tutor to manipulate the top deck when it comes together.
Personally I worried that Call to the Kindred was too fragile and Descendants' Path too slow. However, I never tested either and if you add in a top of the library sub-theme I can see them doing work.
I should really add Sylvia Brightspear and Khorvath Brightflame. The problem being "dragon" is one of the most commonly stated creature types and I really want to say as wide variety of them as possible. The three dragon synergy cards I have now are just so stuck in their spot. Spit Flame is one of the only pieces of tribal removal in the game. Dragon's Hoard is an accelerant and card draw spell both of which the deck desperately needs. Lathliss, Dragon Queen making a ton of 5/5s is just so strong. :/
Gishath, Sun's Avatar for Dinosaurs, and hitting a bunch of changelings to put them into play sounds like one to write home about. Etali, Primal Storm as well to make top deck manipulation pretty gravy.
I've considered Gishath, Sun's Avatar, mostly I avoided the card because hitting a bunch of changelings doesn't super matter to me. In my current build the timing the changelings entering the battlefield is pretty important. If your deck ends up tuned more for aggro/attacking this might still be a solid choice.
Actually, I just cut Defiant Vanguard. The problem being Defiant Falcon -> Defiant Vanguard -> Skyshroud Poacher -> Elf is 13 mana to tutor for an elf over about 3 turns. That's just so much mana and so slow. I played a game where I did literally this line and just died because my opponent cast a handful of vampires and kinda just attacked me. Paying 5 to tutor is just a ton and I never flash blocked anything with him. Being a 1/1 flier to block with was more relevant so Defiant Falcon got the nod.
Oracle of Mul Daya seems pretty good with the top-deck manipulation you like. However, I disagree with you wanting more more unique elves/merfolk to search out. I find two unique targets plus changlelings to be ample. Mostly I've wanted to find only one of my non-changeling targets and then changelings to trigger whatever one I found.
I've thought about Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca, but I don't know what I'd cut. I'd also be weary of playing him because there's a bunch of stuff that wants changelings around to tap or attack with already. Of the two cards most likely competing for that slot I think Seafloor Oracle will likely end up drawing more cards than he will in the long run. I think Sigil Tracer has a higher ceiling, since you can tutor for it at instant speed to surprise twin-cast cards and such. I could be wrong about this though.
I've considered putting a mercenary search card in, but I'm weary of grinding the game down by searching my library so much. Also, as I previously mentioned I've also found searching for Skyshroud Poacher to be too slow and inefficient.
Seton, Krosan Protector didn't make it into my deck purely because he cost GGG and my mana base is hilariously bad because of all the colorless lands I have with creature abilities tacked on. He'd be great with a less greedy mana base for sure.
Arcane Adaptation. naming whatever is most appropriate at the time. But even naming Dragon is going to make non-changelings cost one less, and with any of the creature searches, you can do broken plays. Like if Moggcatcher is in play for example, name Goblins and start putting Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign and Lathliss, Dragon Queen, etc, into play.
I thought about these cards and I decided against them because I have such a wide range of relevant creature types it actually doesn't have a ton of synergy. Basically you're playing Arcane Adaptation to make one creature card you play better. If that creature dies you just two-for-one'd yourself. Although, I suppose I am running Artificial Evolution to do the same thing. It does seem to be a pet card of your though, so I'd recommend playing it. Just be weary of this.
Scourge of Valkas seems good if you're not limiting dragons. I also found crucible of fire to be exceptionally strong as it turns your changelings into legitimate threats.
Marwyn, the Nurturer synergies much better with my infinite loops and has a much higher ceiling of mana production. Rishkar, Peema Renegade doesn't contribute to the game plan of saying a lot creature types.
I considered both of these. The main issue being is that sacrificing your changelings feels pretty bad. You want them around attacking, tapping for mana and such. I'll probably cut Goblin Trashmaster soon because of this. The deck doesn't have much recursion so once a changeling is gone, they're hard to get back. That being said if you throw in some recursion those cards are both very very strong. I would also be worried about the mana costs required to keep those abilities up.
I just added Seshiro the Anointed and Seafloor Oracle, so I don't have a strong opinion on how they actually play. I would be weary of not having enough card draw if you don't replace them with some card advantage. Same for Wirewood Savage (searchable elf).
I'll have to change the mana base a fair amount.
Anyway top-notch deck idea materpillar, really excited to put a deck together myself.
Changing the mana base seems wise.
Final note for you: I would definitely consider Grim Captain's Call since you're adding two large dinosaurs and there's a bunch of merfolk around already. Also, crucible of fire was really good for me and you're adding even more dragons.
Have you considered Myr Reservoir? It may not fix colors, but it can ramp changelings/free up mana, and it offers recursion for the changelings. I've found it pretty good in Reaper King changelings.
You mentioned Knight Exemplar in a comment - that card is super good with changeling combos. Is there a reason you aren't running it?
Have you considered Myr Reservoir? It may not fix colors, but it can ramp changelings/free up mana, and it offers recursion for the changelings. I've found it pretty good in Reaper King changelings.
I had been running it, but most of my changelings only cost 1-3 mana already, so it tapping for mana as a rock was very underwhelming. Most of my ramp needs to be for my payoff cards not my changelings. As recursion it was just a bit less powerful than I'd have liked.
I know exactly what I'm getting myself into with the deck, for me it's about pulling off one of the big things every so often. I do not expect to win too many games. That's not an insult, just I like to have decks like this to really push the boundaries. But when you do pull something off and win, then it's 10 times more fun and satisfying.
That's why I don't really care about being too robust with mass removal, that would probably win more games, I'd prefer my opponents do there thing as well, and see who comes up on top.
So yeah I don't mind durdling Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero -> Skyshroud Poacher -> whatever. I have this same sort of balance with that Zur Rebel deck, where my mana is always tied up because I'm having to be reactive to save my stuff, but really I want to get proactive with getting more Rebels that can search. So I know about the limits of mana. But honestly I like that challenge.
I've decided on Sea Gate Loremaster as the Merfolk, as it also puts me into Ally tribal. I personally not sold on Seafloor Oracle and Seshiro the Anointed as you need to attack and evasion, so I just don't think they'll work as well as you hope.
I've had to cut the "champion" changelings, I do not run the combos, so I am just playing some others in; Changeling Sentinel, Game-Trail Changeling, Mistform Ultimus. I can't ever imagine a single creature I'd be happy to "champion" without the combos, so don't seem great for me.
Unfortunately I'm going to have to go a traditional route with the lands, purely on color fixing as best as possible, rather than themes like Contested Cliffs, Riptide Laboratory, Seaside Haven, Swarmyard, etc. These are really cool and a big part of your deck, but as you say I've got some mana hungry creatures, so casting things like Seton, Krosan Protector and Scourge of Valkas is going to require that all the lands are color fixers.
I know exactly what I'm getting myself into with the deck, for me it's about pulling off one of the big things every so often. I do not expect to win too many games. That's not an insult, just I like to have decks like this to really push the boundaries. But when you do pull something off and win, then it's 10 times more fun and satisfying.
That's why I don't really care about being too robust with mass removal, that would probably win more games, I'd prefer my opponents do there thing as well, and see who comes up on top.
That’s fair. Just surprised me that you said the deck was low on interaction and then cut all the interaction.
I've decided on Sea Gate Loremaster as the Merfolk, as it also puts me into Ally tribal. I personally not sold on Seafloor Oracle and Seshiro the Anointed as you need to attack and evasion, so I just don't think they'll work as well as you hope.
I’ve found that attacking with 2-3 changelings after I played The Ur-Dragon was fairly reasonable. But Loremaster might be more consistent. I was just worried about having to untap with him. That’s before I had the guy that could search for merfolk though. Will report back with future testing results.
I’m also playing sheshiro to pump my team and make them slightly Moreno threatening.
Gilt-leaf archdruid seems really good. I am purely not playing him for the feel bad of taking someone else’s lands. I don’t like stopping people from playing magic in any way other than death.
I've had to cut the "champion" changelings, I do not run the combos, so I am just playing some others in; Changeling Sentinel, Game-Trail Changeling, Mistform Ultimus. I can't ever imagine a single creature I'd be happy to "champion" without the combos, so don't seem great for me.
I’d recommend keeping 1-2 of them in the deck. That way you can self-exile a value creature in response to a wrath or removal. Similar to the fiend hunter trick in your Zur deck.
That’s fair. Just surprised me that you said the deck was low on interaction and then cut all the interaction.
Yeah I just wanted to give the changelings themselves a bit more purpose, so swapping one disruption for another. But I played some games and took some beatings, so I think I'm just going to run some good old removal in Toxic Deluge and Austere Command, as I just got overwhelmed a lot of games early.
I’ve found that attacking with 2-3 changelings after I played The Ur-Dragon was fairly reasonable. But Loremaster might be more consistent. I was just worried about having to untap with him. That’s before I had the guy that could search for merfolk though. Will report back with future testing results.
I got out The Ur-Dragon once, but I found that I couldn't attack with my other creatures without them getting killed. I feel like some evasion is needed if also using those other two attack creatures to get value in the face of opponents easily blocking them. Maybe Shifting Sliver or even Galerider Sliver is probably good enough.
Gilt-leaf archdruid seems really good. I am purely not playing him for the feel bad of taking someone else’s lands. I don’t like stopping people from playing magic in any way other than death.
Well I have to admit a lot of my games became centered around trying to pull it off, 7 "druids" is not easy. But games got out of control quick, so the only real out of stopping a player was to take their lands. Man I had one game that was one short. So honestly is not like a broken thing, you work really hard to get it.
I’d recommend keeping 1-2 of them in the deck. That way you can self-exile a value creature in response to a wrath or removal. Similar to the fiend hunter trick in your Zur deck.
In the end I tended to just hold onto them unless I draw one of the mana enablers, as it's better to not run them into mass removal. But it does mean that you might be a few turns behind where you might have been if you played them out, but the ETB are really powerful, so worth waiting on.
What do you find you mainly do?
I added Seedborn Muse and Wilderness Reclamation as a way to get value from the creature activation's. Never drew one, but these will be the.bomb.com.
Yeah I just wanted to give the changelings themselves a bit more purpose, so swapping one disruption for another. But I played some games and took some beatings, so I think I'm just going to run some good old removal in Toxic Deluge and Austere Command, as I just got overwhelmed a lot of games early.
Would strongly recommend Endemic Plague. Not because it's good (it is an almost strictly worse than both the wrath cards you mentioned) but because the flavor win is strong. Although, I do look forward to blowing an elf/sliver/goblin tribal deck out of the water with it sometime.
I got out The Ur-Dragon once, but I found that I couldn't attack with my other creatures without them getting killed. I feel like some evasion is needed if also using those other two attack creatures to get value in the face of opponents easily blocking them.
This deck used have Karona, False God at the helm. The Ur-Dragon is a relatively recent change, so I've only played this list half a dozen times since switching up the generals. Off the top of my head, the first time I cast him I immediately died because I tapped out. After that I made the mental switch to only cast him if I had immediate decent attacks so usually I'd spend several turns in advance setting up for him. Trying to prioritize tutoring up Mothdust Changeling, Avian Changeling or another one that has evasion. I've also attacked and then put Sliver Hivelord into play (although I know that doesn't help your build much).
However, The Ur-Dragon is just so dang expensive at 9 mana that he's kind of a plan C in my mind. Usually I'm either top-decking, crushing people, or magical christmas landed him turn 4-5 if I play him. The deck is just too mana hungry to have 9 sitting around unused.
Outside of The Ur-Dragon being on the battlefield, they don't seem like those slivers don't seem do much at all. Giving a handful of 2/2 changelings unblockable isn't particularly great. Maybe if you were running Coat of Arms and going for a more attack oriented victory?
Gilt-leaf archdruid seems really good. I am purely not playing him for the feel bad of taking someone else’s lands. I don’t like stopping people from playing magic in any way other than death.
Well I have to admit a lot of my games became centered around trying to pull it off, 7 "druids" is not easy. But games got out of control quick, so the only real out of stopping a player was to take their lands. Man I had one game that was one short. So honestly is not like a broken thing, you work really hard to get it.
Yeah... 7 is a lot. He is really strong in this deck. I'll ponder him some more. I can just seem him making some of my friends rage quit. Although, I'm playing Liliana's Contract which is 4 demons win on upkeep. I suppose 7 druids: Door To Nothingness someone isn't really that oppressive comparatively. Maybe, I will pick one up.
Note: Mirror Entity and Mutavault help here a lot.
...
This list is getting really tight actually. I've 5 cards I really want to add and roughly 2 I have any interest in cutting.
In the end I tended to just hold onto them unless I draw one of the mana enablers, as it's better to not run them into mass removal. But it does mean that you might be a few turns behind where you might have been if you played them out, but the ETB are really powerful, so worth waiting on.
What do you find you mainly do?
It's really hand dependent. I guess I usually tend to jam a changeling turn 1 or 2 and then slowroll my next few to trigger stuff. I prioritize using my changelings to achieve the following goals in roughly this order
1) Say a new creature type
2) Draw Cards
3) Ramp
4) Removal
5) Attacking and Damaging people
I added Seedborn Muse and Wilderness Reclamation as a way to get value from the creature activation's. Never drew one, but these will be the.bomb.com.
Prophet of kruphix instead of Wilderness Reclamation? Those do seem like the.bomb.com.
I'm curious to know more about how your games went. I'm also surprised you got the deck put together already. That's awesome! How many games did you play, what were the games like and what generals were involved? What cards were good? What cards under-performed?
I've also gotten smashed recently by that same edgar markov a couple times. Once it just ran me over with tokens and aggro beats. Once a mill deck went after him, got most of his library into the graveyard and cast patriarch's bidding with malakir bloodwitch and 20+ vamps in the yard.
I'm curious to know more about how your games went. I'm also surprised you got the deck put together already. That's awesome! How many games did you play, what were the games like and what generals were involved? What cards were good? What cards under-performed?
I've been playing on Magic Online, so it's easy to put the deck together. I think I've won two games in about 15..something like that. The deck power levels online are pretty varied, so you often come across win-at-all-cost decks, so never going to get time to setup unfortunately.
I've had to put in Demonic Tutor, Cyclonic Rift, Toxic Deluge and Austere Command, Patriarch's Bidding to be able to have any chance of evening up the boards.
This has been my best game yet, was the last one I played ...
If you notice that I had Arcane Adaptation naming "Dinosaur". I had one hit with Gishath, Sun's Avatar giving me some additional changelings the previous turn.
My board got mostly wiped when opponent cast his Rakdos, the Showstopper, but if you notice the Patriarch's Bidding in my graveyard, I named "Dinosaur" to literally bring everything back.
If you notice that I had Arcane Adaptation naming "Dinosaur". I had one hit with Gishath, Sun's Avatar giving me some additional changelings the previous turn.
Handful of changes. Hopefully I'll get to play some games later next week.
-1 Cultivate
+1 Elder Pine of Jukai
Cultivate might be the slightly better card, but Elder Pine should hopefully dig for lands for me and play a similar role in the deck. Also, it can get back a changeling when it dies. So lots of card advantage potential here.
-1 Urza's Incubator
+1 Harabaz Druid
Most of my changelings are extremely cheap and don't need to get cheaper. I'd have Harabaz Druid to ramp out multiple different 6 drops instead of just one. Also, it is color fixing.
-1 Goblin Warchief
+1 Khorvath Brightflame
Similar role of combo enabler, but Khorvath also grants evasion, is significantly less of a dead card on its own, and adds the knight subtheme.
-1 Angel of Flight Alabaster
+1 Sylvia Brightspear
Gotta play the second half of the partners. Unfortunately, it is another dragon synergy card bringing me up to 4 but I'm not playing Khorvath Brightflame by himself. Angel of Flight Alabaster I found to just have too little of an impact and cost too much mana.
-1 Goblin Trashmaster
+1 Patron of the Vein
I think I need creature removal more than artifact removal. It also will make all my changelings into pretty decent threats eventually. Trashmaster's biggest flaw was that it made me sacrifice changelings and I never wanted to do that at all.
If you notice that I had Arcane Adaptation naming "Dinosaur". I had one hit with Gishath, Sun's Avatar giving me some additional changelings the previous turn.
You don't need Arcane Adaptation for Gishath, Sun's Avatar to pull the changelings. Gishath has been one of the more fun things to do, the haste and trample mean that you really do make sure you get value straight away. Patriarch's Bidding I've only drawn once and cast once, so obviously been good so far I'm sure if I came against another tribal deck, not going to be as good.
The other changes I've made is Intruder Alarm, which won me a game. I was searching up the changelings with Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero with Gemhide Sliver in play, so I was gaining mana off tapping them, fueling the ability to search for the even more costly changelings. I even had Khorvath Brightflame in play giving the changelings haste, meaning I could tap them for mana straight away. I had Spit Flame, so was able to generate enough mana eventually to keep casting it to kill of the biggest threats, and each time I search for another changeling, I could return it to cast again. Was pretty, pretty, pretty sweet.
I've put in Martial Coup instead of Toxic Deluge, as I wanted a card that could potentially put lots of tokens into play. That way with Arcane Adaptation you have the means to do some busted stuff.
I end up replacing Cryptic Gateway with Mirari's Wake. I know it's one of your MVPs, but I found with only 4 creatures at 6 mana or more, that the reward isn't high enough. Plus you get this situation, where say you have a pay-off ETB creature like Reaper King, Lathliss, Dragon Queen, Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign, that you don't want to play out the two changelings in the first place, wanting to hold onto them for the triggers. So rather than spending 5 mana on Cryptic Gateway and play out the changelings, it's just better to use 6 mana to cast them out naturally. I had this scenario a few times, and so Cryptic Gateway just became a card I never cast.
I had back-to-back wins today, Liliana's Contract managed to stay in play, so things are going much better, but I did have two opponents hating each other, so had a pretty easy run. But the Intruder Alarm win was hard fought.
Honestly try and find something else to take out rather than Sage of Fables. It's too good, because it can make sure that your changelings can be card neutral, replacing themselves at the very least. I've found it too good personally, to consider removing it. Remember Taurean Mauler can stack +1/+1 counters.
I will have to say that Khorvath Brightflame and Khorvath Brightflame have been subtle good. Don't expect immediate impacts with them, but over the course of games, their abilities can help. Khorvath Brightflame is expensive to cast, but can give you the evasion for your combat draw cards.
And Sylvia Brightspear saved my ass with the double strike, as an opponent had quite an attacking force, but I had just enough double strike blockers, that attacking would cause some causalities, so was holding off for most of the game actually.
So what I'm saying is that look for subtle interactions with them, rather than game changers.
The only other cards I have not been able to get any value from is the Ninjas. I've never had time to cast or Ninjutsu them as I'm almost never attacking.
You don't need Arcane Adaptation for Gishath, Sun's Avatar to pull the changelings. Gishath has been one of the more fun things to do, the haste and trample mean that you really do make sure you get value straight away. Patriarch's Bidding I've only drawn once and cast once, so obviously been good so far I'm sure if I came against another tribal deck, not going to be as good.
Maybe I’ll need to pick up a Gishath myself then. It’d give me a dinosaur so I’d have everything but pirates for Grim Captain’s Call which is a card I really want to find a slot for.
The other changes I've made is Intruder Alarm, which won me a game. I was searching up the changelings with Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero with Gemhide Sliver in play, so I was gaining mana off tapping them, fueling the ability to search for the even more costly changelings. I even had Khorvath Brightflame in play giving the changelings haste, meaning I could tap them for mana straight away. I had Spit Flame, so was able to generate enough mana eventually to keep casting it to kill of the biggest threats, and each time I search for another changeling, I could return it to cast again. Was pretty, pretty, pretty sweet.
Intruder Alarm is a busted busted card. That sounds like an awesome semi-loop you had going there. I guess I try to do similar things with Myr Galvanizer except the myr is just way less good.
I've put in Martial Coup instead of Toxic Deluge, as I wanted a card that could potentially put lots of tokens into play. That way with Arcane Adaptation you have the means to do some busted stuff.
Could you post your list? I’m curious to see how much it has changed from mine. How many changelings are you running at the moment? What did you cut for the wrath spells.
I end up replacing Cryptic Gateway with Mirari's Wake. I know it's one of your MVPs, but I found with only 4 creatures at 6 mana or more, that the reward isn't high enough. Plus you get this situation, where say you have a pay-off ETB creature like Reaper King, Lathliss, Dragon Queen, Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign, that you don't want to play out the two changelings in the first place, wanting to hold onto them for the triggers. So rather than spending 5 mana on Cryptic Gateway and play out the changelings, it's just better to use 6 mana to cast them out naturally. I had this scenario a few times, and so Cryptic Gateway just became a card I never cast.
I think I use Cryptic Gateway to play changelings more often than non-changelings actually. It singlehandedly allows for a more reactive draw-go style of play because you can trigger all your ETB stuff at instant speed. Changeling Hero in response to a removal spell. Reaperking now is instant speed removal. You can lightly storm off with unesh, criosphinx. It also makes it much more likely that you can untap with creature when you flash them in endstep. Ramping out 6 drops is just gravy on top of everything else.
Last game one of my opponents stopped attacking me because he was scared of me flashing in a big creature to block him. It’s probably a lot worse in the face of lots of wrath spells though.
I had back-to-back wins today, Liliana's Contract managed to stay in play, so things are going much better, but I did have two opponents hating each other, so had a pretty easy run. But the Intruder Alarm win was hard fought.
Nice! Nice! I think you might actually have more experience piloting this deck than I do now.
Honestly try and find something else to take out rather than Sage of Fables. It's too good, because it can make sure that your changelings can be card neutral, replacing themselves at the very least. I've found it too good personally, to consider removing it. Remember Taurean Mauler can stack +1/+1 counters.
I am sad about losing the Taurean Mauler and now Patron of the Vein. I just don’t know what I’d cut to put Sage back in. I think the sage is directly competeing with Seafloor Oracle. I think I need to test that card out some more first. I just found paying 2 mana to be frustrating.
Also, I think you previously cut Wirewood Savage. That card is extremely similar in power level to Sage of Oracles.
I will have to say that Khorvath Brightflame and Khorvath Brightflame have been subtle good. Don't expect immediate impacts with them, but over the course of games, their abilities can help. Khorvath Brightflame is expensive to cast, but can give you the evasion for your combat draw cards.
And Sylvia Brightspear saved my ass with the double strike, as an opponent had quite an attacking force, but I had just enough double strike blockers, that attacking would cause some causalities, so was holding off for most of the game actually.
So what I'm saying is that look for subtle interactions with them, rather than game changers.
I see Khorvath Brightflame as a combo piece for my really bad 14 card combo that amuses me. I’m primarily playing him for his haste. Then he comes with the upside of some light evasion and a free extra body in Sylvia who I view as a free bad overrun effect. My expectations of them aren’t blazingly high. I’m glad you’ve been happy with them though.
The only other cards I have not been able to get any value from is the Ninjas. I've never had time to cast or Ninjutsu them as I'm almost never attacking.
I get tons of value from Walker of Secret Ways. Usually I end up hard casting her when I have a bunch of mana sitting around and immediately bouncing changelings. She’s an extremely potent mana-dump with how much you can re-use changeling ETBs. She’s reaperking’s best buddy.
Higure is harder to get value from as his ninjutsu cost is actually expensive. However, if he’s down he is tons of value and additionally he finds Walker of Secret ways.
I tried playing one of the champion changelings, but it just got stuck in my hand as I suspected, so took it out again.
Because I made the deck online, I can afford to play a million dollar mana base, so that's why I have it completely focused on fixing colors, rather than tribal anything.
You are 100% correct about the Wirewood Savage, I will straight up play it over Sage of Fables, as it means don't also have to spend mana for the draw.
You'll see that I've taken out Elves (expect for the Skyshroud Poacher), I found them to be the most underwhelming as far as mana enablers, and Seton, Krosan Protector ended up a little durdly as well, I've found that Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro, Gemhide Sliver, Manaweft Sliver are better to aim for. Only getting green mana off the elves isn't so good, but Sachi is great because of the double mana.
Now it's a little confusing at first, but "Army" is just another creature type, of which none has existed so far until now.
The card that interests me for this deck is Widespread Brutality. To me it looks like a one-sided board wrath.
Imagine having three small changelings, Mothdust Changeling, Amoeboid Changeling, Fire-Belly Changeling, all 1/1s.
You'd put 2 x +1/+1 counters on them making them 3/3's, then they would deal 9 damage to each other non-Army creatures. It would take out any of your non-changelings if you had them, but it's like a "destroy all non-changelings and pump up your creatures". Seems awesome in this deck.
To amass 2, put two +1/+1 counters on an Army you control. If you don't control one, create a 0/0 black Zombie Army creature token first.
You'd put them on one of them, not on all of them.
I really really like the look of this card. Having a second on flavor wrath spell seems really nice, and you have a lot of control over how much damage this is doing to the board. Pay 4 mana to deal 3-6 damage to all non-changelings seems real good.
The thing I'm really excited about is using this with Changeling Hero for a bunch of life gain in addition to wrathing, since this deck really struggles to gain any life back after taking early hits. It's also super strong with Mirror Entity, with enough mana it is just a plague wind. It is also exceptional with Moonglove Changeling. By exceptional, I mean it is actually a wrath. I think best case scenario is a Cairn Wanderer with deathtouch and lifelink.
With seven changeling tutors, I think pulling off Moonglove Changeling with this should be somewhat consistent.
Another few tweaks.
-1 Kodama's Reach
+1 Thunderherd Migration
The initial thought behind this switch was to change "Boring Manabase Greed Reduction (3)" to "Boring Manabase Greed Reduction (2)" but upon some consideration, removing Kodama's Reach freed me up to remove several basic lands from my deck and replace them with multi-color lands. As a result I think this decks mana-base is actually slightly better even though Migration is a worse mana fixer than Kodama's Reach. Also, now I have dinosaur synergy and truly that is what is most important
-1 Plains
+1 Seraph Sanctuary
This deck actually only runs seven white non-changeling and 4 of them are multi-colored cards. This deck is very light on needing white mana so this change makes the mana base only slightly worse, but Seraph Sanctuary gains me infinite life with the 3 champion changeling loop. I was also looking for incrimental life gain because the deck doesn't have any of that which I noticed was hurting me. Most importantly, now I have angel synergy.
-1 Mountain
+1 Vivid Grove
Only need 1 of each basic for thunderherd migration. Deck needs green mana a lot more than red.
-1 Swamp
+1 Gilt-Leaf Palace
Only need 1 of each basic for thunderherd migration, that's the last of this cycle of lands that I needed.
Sigil Tracer went on to dominate the game, completely housing the two blue decks.
Here it is triple casting Peer Pressure to steal a bunch of stuff including Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur. Jin-Gitaxias + infinite mana was enough to clench the game.
Harabaz Druid generated a ton of mana. My friend said it was his MVP, so I'd find a way to slip it into your list.
I might try this guy over New Blood. New blood is an answer to larger threats but Tolsimir is life gain and re-usable. He's also tutorable with Skyshroud Poacher and gains infinite life with the 3-champion loop. Maybe, I'll cut Marwyn, the Nurturer instead and keep my answer density higher. Hrmmm.
There’s quite a lot of people that go to the hobby store in my area. I usually draft and then maybe play some EDH on the side if nothing fires, so I don’t have a super fantastic grasp of the meta game.
As far as the decks I’ve played recently, I think they lean towards more casual. The Arcum Dagsson deck wasn’t super tuned. I mean it was good. It had Force of Will and was filled to the brim with staples but it wasn’t aggressively trying to kill the table turn 4 through hate.
Just glanced at the 75% articles. I’d say Arcum was roughly around a 75% list, but the general himself is so strong that it elevated the list a lot.
Jhoira is hard for me to classify. It was super duper glass cannon. If you respond to KCI on the stack by doom blading Jhoira you were fine. If not, you died. Not casual friendly because of how easily it kills the table. Not really competitive because of how easily it folds. It ran almost no interactive spells at all.
Anafenza was more casual. Wraths and Timmy legends. It was definitely trying to be fair.
I’ve also played against the UB god mill deck which was super casual. Also, the Edgar Markov vampire Aggro, which was more casual. Holy cow Edgar Markov can burn you down fast if you’re not paying attention though.
I’ve a group of friends who play Breya, Waelstrom Wanderer, Ashling, the Pilgrim, and Wort, Raid Mother. They’re doing very optimized fair strategies. So mostly 75% decks.
That’s part of the reason I get excited to find new interaction spells that are on theme. If you just durdle around and ignore everyone, people here will kill you super dead. However, your answers can be kinda janky and that’s still good enough for a decent game of magic.
I'm going to add Harabaz Druid, my problem with the Elves and Seton, is that they only provided green, and I was not getting the colored mana I needed for the 5 colors.
Peer Pressure is one of the hall mark cards for the deck imo, I used it to just steal one creature in a game, but that was enough to swing it (it was a pump creature, so rather than their creatures getting bigger, mine did).
So it's not like you have to do massive things with it, a simple Control Magic can be good enough.
Any reason why Mistform Ultimus is not in this deck? This would seem like a solid fit to me.
Also Runed Stalactite could work as well, especially when equipped on the Ur-Dragon.
This deck plays out a lot differently than a Mistform Ultimus deck. My understanding is a Mistform Ultimus deck is usually filled with lordsthat make Mistform Ultimus into a bit of a voltron-beater. This deck has only has five lords that pump changelings' power and toughness. All five of the lords are in the deck primarily for their other abilities and the pump is more gravy. Most of the changelings in this deck are either tapping formana or being used to triggersome ETBeffect. If they're attacking it is usually to drawcards and not actually with the intent of killing anyone. If they're attacking with the intent to kill people they're most likely Flying10/10s. As a result I've found that costing one less mana is significantly more beneficial than having +1/+1 in stats.
Peer Pressure is one of the hall mark cards for the deck imo, I used it to just steal one creature in a game, but that was enough to swing it (it was a pump creature, so rather than their creatures getting bigger, mine did).
So it's not like you have to do massive things with it, a simple Control Magic can be good enough.
It's great. I'm happy I've got a foil one. I also didn't realize how busted it was with Unnatural Selection (since you can make enemy creatures the type you're stealing) until I was glancing through the list to see what that combo'd with.
Slight tweak. I just remembered that Yuriko is a card. I haven't really cast Marwyn all that much and I've enough combos with the oblivion ring-changeling loop that she's a bit unnecessary now. The correct cut still might have been Seafloor Oracle as these occupy the same space but I like have a tutorable card advantage card with Seahunter. There's a good chance I might cut Seafloor Oracle for Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca. Although, I've also been thinking about sticking in a Wanderwine Prophets. I think that really needs haste to excel though and its really hard to give it haste.
I only got one game in with this deck over the past few weeks. During the game two howling mines got cast along with rites of flourishing and I just didn't draw nearly enough acceleration to keep in the game.
Each creature type other than Dragon and Sliver has a maximum of 3 synergy cards not counting lands.
This list below is sorted by relevant creature type. Here is the deck sorted by card type as that is how decks are most commonly posted and it might be more easily digestible in this fashion.
1 The Ur-Dragon
Changelings (18)
1 Crib Swap
1 Universal Automaton
1 Mothdust Changeling
1 Changeling Outcast
1 Amoeboid Changeling
1 Impostor of the Sixth Pride
1 Shapesharer
1 Skeletal Changeling
1 Avian Changeling
1 Mirror Entity
1 Venomous Changeling
1 Taurean Mauler
1 Irregular Cohort
1 Cairn Wanderer
1 Changeling Berserker
1 Changeling Hero
1 Changeling Titan
1 Morophon, the Boundless
Ally (2 + land)
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Harabaz Druid
1 Ally Encampment
Angel (Land)
1 Seraph Sanctuary
Army (1)
1 Widespread Brutality
Beast (1 + land)
1 Wirewood Savage
1 Contested Cliffs
Bird (Land)
1 Seaside Haven
Demon (1)
1 Liliana's Contract
Dinosaur (1)
1 Thunderherd Migration
Dragon (4 + 2 lands)
1 Spit Flame
1 Dragon's Hoard
1 Lathliss, Dragon Queen
1 Sylvia Brightspear
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
1 Path of Ancestry
1 Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
Elemental (Land)
1 Flamekin Village
1 Primal Beyond
Elf (4 + land)
1 Wirewood Symbiote
1 Skyshroud Poacher
1 Elvish Archdruid
1 Priest of Titania
1 Gilt-Leaf Palace
Faerie (Land)
1 Secluded Glen
Giant (Land)
1 Ancient Amphitheater
Goblin (1 + land)
1 Moggcatcher
1 Auntie's Hovel
Human... most frequently (Land)
1 Unclaimed Territory
Insect/Rat/Spider/Squirrel (Land)
1 Swarmyard
Knight (1)
1 Khorvath Brightflame
Merfolk (2 + land)
1 Seafloor Oracle
1 Seahunter
1 Wanderwine Hub
Minotaur (1)
1 Didgeridoo
Myr (1)
1 Myr Galvanizer
Ninja (3)
1 Higure, the Still Wind
1 Walker of Secret Ways
1 Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
Rebel (1)
1 Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
Rogue (1)
1 Knowledge Exploitation
Scarecrow (1)
1 Reaper King
Sliver (5 + land)
1 Sliver Overlord
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Hibernation Sliver
1 Gemhide Sliver
1 Manaweft Sliver
1 Sliver Hive
1 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
Snake (1)
1 Seshiro the Anointed
Sphinx (1)
1 Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
Spirit (1)
1 Elder Pine of Jukai
Treefolk (Land)
1 Murmuring Bosk
Vampire (1)
1 Patron of the Vein
Wizard (2)
1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
1 Sigil Tracer
1 Riptide Laboratory
Wolf (1)
1 Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves
General Tribal Cards (4 + land)
1 Endemic Plague
1 Peer Pressure
1 Cryptic Gateway
1 Unnatural Selection
1 Mutavault
1 Cavern of Souls
Boring Manabase Greed Reduction (1)
1 Chromatic Lantern
Boring Lands (15), (35 total lands)
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Creek
1 Vivid Grove
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Grand Coliseum
1 Forbidden Orchard
2 Forest
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Swamp
The deck primarily wins via setting up one of the following combos. Although, it can just generally battle-cruiser its way to victory via card advantage synergies with changelings and attacking with with large dragons. It can also steal games with Liliana's Contract or Gilt-Leaf Archdruid.
Combos:
Changeling Titan + Changeling Berserker + Changeling Hero = oblivion ring loop for infinite changeling ETB Triggers
+ Gemhide Sliver = Infinite Mana
+ Azami, Lady of Scrolls = Draw the Deck
+ Seraph Sanctuary = Infinite Life
+ Reaper King = Vindicate the board
+ Spit Flame (with Infinite Mana) = Infinite chunks of 4 damage to all target creatures
Shapesharer + Myr Galvanizer + Gemhide Sliver + 2 Changelings = Infinite Mana
Wirewood Symbiote + Mirror Entity + Harabaz Druid = Infinite mana
Hibernation Sliver + Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves + Universal Automaton = Infinite life and changeling ETBs
Wirewood Symbiote + Harabaz Druid + Morophon, the Boundless + Changeling Titan + Changeling Hero = Infinite changeling ETBs, add one more changeling for infinite mana
Khorvath Brightflame + Myr Galvanizer + Unnatural Selection + Gemhide Sliver + Walker of Secret Ways + 9 changelings (Sachi, daughter of seshiro reduces the number of needed changelings) = Infinite mana and changeling ETBs
This amuses me, but it's just easier to find Shapesharer. I guess it's decent to be aware of though.
Deck MVPs: Cryptic Gateway, Spit Flame, and Walker of Secret Ways
Wants:
Elephant Graveyard
Unholy Grotto
Aphetto Dredging?
Psychic Trance?
Notorious Throng?
Sage's Dousing?
Wanderwine Prophets?
Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca?
Reaper King In play.
Cryptic Gateway tapping Changeling Berserker and Fire-Belly Changeling, in response to the Cryptic Gateway trigger bounce Changeling Berserker with Walker of Secret Ways, put Changeling Berserker back into play with Cryptic Gateway, champion a different Mothdust changeling.
6 card combo to get the ability to have 1U: Vindicate twice.
The Ur-Dragon (WUBRG) - Changeling Combo Tribal
Chromium (WUB) - Artifact Beats
Progenitus (WUBRG) - Dredge
Damia, Sage of Stone (GBU) - Elf-storm Tendrils
My Cube Unpowered
My Peasant-ish/Tribal-ish Cube
Gosh there are so many different directions that you can take it in!
These are the cards that I'm personally going to add/change.
I use these in my own tribal decks, and add cards like Brainstorm, Worldy Tutor and Vamperic Tutor to manipulate the top deck when it comes together.
Sylvia Brightspear and Khorvath Brightflame can give you Knight tribal as well as giving double strike to your changelings.
Gishath, Sun's Avatar for Dinosaurs, and hitting a bunch of changelings to put them into play sounds like one to write home about.
Etali, Primal Storm as well to make top deck manipulation pretty gravy.
With Skyshroud Poacher I'd play at least one more unique Elf, probably Oracle of Mul Daya for further top deck manipulation. What's cool is that Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero can get Skyshroud Poacher. But Defiant Falcon missus out, so you really want Defiant Vanguard for that role.
On that same note, with Seahunter I'd play at least one more unique Merfolk. Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca will allow you to draw a card with two other changelings each turn. Tishana, Voice of Thunder should draw a bunch of cards. I know Sigil Tracer and Sage of Fables are also Merfolk, but I just want one more.
Cateran Enforcer is going to give access to Seahunter and Moggcatcher, as well as the changelings.
I'm going to add Training Grounds to make all these creature activated abilities much easier.
Seton, Krosan Protector for Druid tribal.
Arcane Adaptation. naming whatever is most appropriate at the time. But even naming Dragon is going to make non-changelings cost one less, and with any of the creature searches, you can do broken plays. Like if Moggcatcher is in play for example, name Goblins and start putting Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign and Lathliss, Dragon Queen, etc, into play.
Nicol Bolas, the Ravager for a 3 casting Dragon. Scourge of Valkas to make the changelings really add up.
Rishkar, Peema Renegade instead of Marwyn, the Nurturer.
There is not much disruption, so adding Necrotic Sliver and Voidmage Prodigy to give the changelings a bit more purpose.
Grenzo, Dungeon Warden purely because it's a Goblin that holds a special place for me. I can setup the bottom of my library with Descendants' Path, Call to the Kindred, Gishath, Sun's Avatar. A good number of the creatures are power two or less, so I don't mind putting it into play with Moggcatcher with no counters.
Scroll Rack and Sensei's Divining Top to smooth out draws and also I want to put creatures back into the deck for the creatures that search for other creatures, and setup Descendants' Path, Call to the Kindred, Gishath, Sun's Avatar, Etali, Primal Storm, Oracle of Mul Daya.
As far as what I'm removing, Seshiro the Anointed, Seafloor Oracle, Didgeridoo, Sigil Tracer, New Blood, Wirewood Savage, Angel of Flight Alabaster, Myr Galvanizer, Knowledge Exploitation, Endemic Plague, Urza's Incubator, Goblin Warchief, Goblin Trashmaster, Sliver Hivelord, Unnatural Selection, Rakdos, the Showstopper, Mana Reflection, Crib Swap, Defiant Falcon.
I'll have to change the mana base a fair amount.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
I'm glad you like it so much! I have a blast playing it and everyone else at the table usually has a fun time trying to figure out what the heck I'm doing. It can set up some really sweet engines and strong plays with really weird synergies. I would strongly recommend pulling together a similar pile.
To make your deck construction a bit smoother I have gotten a better grasp on its weaknesses, which I'd like to tell you so that you can minimize them however you best see fit.
1) This deck is extremely mana hungry (which is a polite way of saying mana inefficient). There's a ton of activated abilities (like the rebels and moggcatcher that leave you always without the ability to do everything you want. Yesterday, I wanted to cast Spit Flame multiple times during my turn, and plays like that will just burn through mana.
2) Its card draw is creature based so you can get crippled by a well timed wrath spell. It's easy to over-commit to the board when all your card advantage is in moggcatcher effects or Angel of Flight Alabaster. Getting wrathed with no cards in hand is a good as getting killed.
3) It is interaction light (as you pointed out), which comes with the flavor. I've managed to scrounge a few removal spells together, but most games you spend a lot of it really really hoping to top deck Spit Flame
One thing to note: this deck is full of a bunch of 2/2 and 1/1 changelings. On their own, they're just plain terrible. A vanilla 2/2 is hot trash in any format, even more so in EDH. Keep this in mind while building your flavor of this deck. I was running cards like sigarda, heron's grace and rattlechains, but no one kills your changelings because their not worth bothering with so I just cut them (I'll probably try to sneak her back in because I like her art and flavor so much though). What's bad is when people doom blade your Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign.
Personally I worried that Call to the Kindred was too fragile and Descendants' Path too slow. However, I never tested either and if you add in a top of the library sub-theme I can see them doing work.
I should really add Sylvia Brightspear and Khorvath Brightflame. The problem being "dragon" is one of the most commonly stated creature types and I really want to say as wide variety of them as possible. The three dragon synergy cards I have now are just so stuck in their spot. Spit Flame is one of the only pieces of tribal removal in the game. Dragon's Hoard is an accelerant and card draw spell both of which the deck desperately needs. Lathliss, Dragon Queen making a ton of 5/5s is just so strong. :/
I've considered Gishath, Sun's Avatar, mostly I avoided the card because hitting a bunch of changelings doesn't super matter to me. In my current build the timing the changelings entering the battlefield is pretty important. If your deck ends up tuned more for aggro/attacking this might still be a solid choice.
Actually, I just cut Defiant Vanguard. The problem being Defiant Falcon -> Defiant Vanguard -> Skyshroud Poacher -> Elf is 13 mana to tutor for an elf over about 3 turns. That's just so much mana and so slow. I played a game where I did literally this line and just died because my opponent cast a handful of vampires and kinda just attacked me. Paying 5 to tutor is just a ton and I never flash blocked anything with him. Being a 1/1 flier to block with was more relevant so Defiant Falcon got the nod.
Oracle of Mul Daya seems pretty good with the top-deck manipulation you like. However, I disagree with you wanting more more unique elves/merfolk to search out. I find two unique targets plus changlelings to be ample. Mostly I've wanted to find only one of my non-changeling targets and then changelings to trigger whatever one I found.
I've thought about Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca, but I don't know what I'd cut. I'd also be weary of playing him because there's a bunch of stuff that wants changelings around to tap or attack with already. Of the two cards most likely competing for that slot I think Seafloor Oracle will likely end up drawing more cards than he will in the long run. I think Sigil Tracer has a higher ceiling, since you can tutor for it at instant speed to surprise twin-cast cards and such. I could be wrong about this though.
I've considered putting a mercenary search card in, but I'm weary of grinding the game down by searching my library so much. Also, as I previously mentioned I've also found searching for Skyshroud Poacher to be too slow and inefficient.
I want to add this card too... when did it become $20?!
Seton, Krosan Protector didn't make it into my deck purely because he cost GGG and my mana base is hilariously bad because of all the colorless lands I have with creature abilities tacked on. He'd be great with a less greedy mana base for sure.
I thought about these cards and I decided against them because I have such a wide range of relevant creature types it actually doesn't have a ton of synergy. Basically you're playing Arcane Adaptation to make one creature card you play better. If that creature dies you just two-for-one'd yourself. Although, I suppose I am running Artificial Evolution to do the same thing. It does seem to be a pet card of your though, so I'd recommend playing it. Just be weary of this.
Scourge of Valkas seems good if you're not limiting dragons. I also found crucible of fire to be exceptionally strong as it turns your changelings into legitimate threats.
Marwyn, the Nurturer synergies much better with my infinite loops and has a much higher ceiling of mana production. Rishkar, Peema Renegade doesn't contribute to the game plan of saying a lot creature types.
I considered both of these. The main issue being is that sacrificing your changelings feels pretty bad. You want them around attacking, tapping for mana and such. I'll probably cut Goblin Trashmaster soon because of this. The deck doesn't have much recursion so once a changeling is gone, they're hard to get back. That being said if you throw in some recursion those cards are both very very strong. I would also be worried about the mana costs required to keep those abilities up.
Don't forget Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero too. That's actually such a cool interaction. Grenzo, Dungeon Warden seems pretty sweet. Just don't accidentally miss time a shuffle with Moggcatcher.
Sounds pretty good to me.
Yikes! Cutting New Blood and Crib Swap means your only targeted creature removal in the whole deck is spit flame, necrotic sliver, Reaper King, and Scourge of Valkas. I would really recommend not cutting crib swap at the bare minimum. Do note that both Higure, the Still Wind and Sliver Overlord can tutor it up and Wort, Boggart Auntie can recur it.
Cutting Knowledge Exploitation, Endemic Plague, and Rakdos, the Showstopper means you will have access to zero wrath spells. I suppose that's quite meta-game dependent though.
Didgeridoo, Myr Galvanizer, Goblin Warchief, Unnatural Selection, and Mana Reflection seems fine as they're mostly combo cards.
I just added Seshiro the Anointed and Seafloor Oracle, so I don't have a strong opinion on how they actually play. I would be weary of not having enough card draw if you don't replace them with some card advantage. Same for Wirewood Savage (searchable elf).
Angel of Flight Alabaster is super disposable. I just like the art. It does loop really well with crib swap though.
I assume you're cutting Sliver Hivelord for budget reasons? Card is pretty busted. It's like knight exemplar except it protects itself.
Changing the mana base seems wise.
Final note for you: I would definitely consider Grim Captain's Call since you're adding two large dinosaurs and there's a bunch of merfolk around already. Also, crucible of fire was really good for me and you're adding even more dragons.
The Ur-Dragon (WUBRG) - Changeling Combo Tribal
Chromium (WUB) - Artifact Beats
Progenitus (WUBRG) - Dredge
Damia, Sage of Stone (GBU) - Elf-storm Tendrils
My Cube Unpowered
My Peasant-ish/Tribal-ish Cube
You mentioned Knight Exemplar in a comment - that card is super good with changeling combos. Is there a reason you aren't running it?
Spirit Mirror is a bit of a pet card for me in decks running Amoeboid Changeling, Unnatural Selection, and Artificial Evolution.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
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I had been running it, but most of my changelings only cost 1-3 mana already, so it tapping for mana as a rock was very underwhelming. Most of my ramp needs to be for my payoff cards not my changelings. As recursion it was just a bit less powerful than I'd have liked.
Not sure what to cut mostly. Sliver overlord does the same thing better. I think that'd also be a removal magnet which I'm not a fan of.
That is kinda fun. Doesn't let me say my changelings are more creature types though.
The Ur-Dragon (WUBRG) - Changeling Combo Tribal
Chromium (WUB) - Artifact Beats
Progenitus (WUBRG) - Dredge
Damia, Sage of Stone (GBU) - Elf-storm Tendrils
My Cube Unpowered
My Peasant-ish/Tribal-ish Cube
old thread
old thread
old thread
R Zada Arcane Storm
RBU Marchesa
GWU Estrid
GWR Samut?
URB Kess
(R/W)(U/B) Akiri & Silas
BWR Alesha
R Neheb Dragons
G Nylea Wurms
W Darien
U Tetsuko
I didn't see the Crib Swap interactions with Sliver Overlord, Wort, Boggart Auntie, Angel of Flight Alabaster, Higure, the Still Wind, so will play it.
I know exactly what I'm getting myself into with the deck, for me it's about pulling off one of the big things every so often. I do not expect to win too many games. That's not an insult, just I like to have decks like this to really push the boundaries. But when you do pull something off and win, then it's 10 times more fun and satisfying.
That's why I don't really care about being too robust with mass removal, that would probably win more games, I'd prefer my opponents do there thing as well, and see who comes up on top.
So yeah I don't mind durdling Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero -> Skyshroud Poacher -> whatever. I have this same sort of balance with that Zur Rebel deck, where my mana is always tied up because I'm having to be reactive to save my stuff, but really I want to get proactive with getting more Rebels that can search. So I know about the limits of mana. But honestly I like that challenge.
I've decided on Sea Gate Loremaster as the Merfolk, as it also puts me into Ally tribal. I personally not sold on Seafloor Oracle and Seshiro the Anointed as you need to attack and evasion, so I just don't think they'll work as well as you hope.
On the note of going big, I'm going all-in on those themes and also trying Captivating Vampire and Gilt-Leaf Archdruid. Will I pull them off? Probably not. But if I do...oh the glory. Gilt-Leaf Archdruid will be the extra Elf as well that I was after, so Oracle of Mul Daya won't make it in.
I've had to cut the "champion" changelings, I do not run the combos, so I am just playing some others in; Changeling Sentinel, Game-Trail Changeling, Mistform Ultimus. I can't ever imagine a single creature I'd be happy to "champion" without the combos, so don't seem great for me.
I did actually mean play Defiant Vanguard instead of Defiant Falcon.
Sliver Hivelord probably just a meta thing, I play against Toxic Deluge and Swords to Plowshares too much to be too invested. I mean I used to play a Sliver Overlord deck and cut it from that even as a pure Sliver deck. I prefer to lean on Hibernation Sliver and Crystalline Sliver for that protection role, but don't have enough slots for them in this deck.
Unfortunately I'm going to have to go a traditional route with the lands, purely on color fixing as best as possible, rather than themes like Contested Cliffs, Riptide Laboratory, Seaside Haven, Swarmyard, etc. These are really cool and a big part of your deck, but as you say I've got some mana hungry creatures, so casting things like Seton, Krosan Protector and Scourge of Valkas is going to require that all the lands are color fixers.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
That’s fair. Just surprised me that you said the deck was low on interaction and then cut all the interaction.
I’ve found that attacking with 2-3 changelings after I played The Ur-Dragon was fairly reasonable. But Loremaster might be more consistent. I was just worried about having to untap with him. That’s before I had the guy that could search for merfolk though. Will report back with future testing results.
I’m also playing sheshiro to pump my team and make them slightly Moreno threatening.
Gilt-leaf archdruid seems really good. I am purely not playing him for the feel bad of taking someone else’s lands. I don’t like stopping people from playing magic in any way other than death.
I’d recommend keeping 1-2 of them in the deck. That way you can self-exile a value creature in response to a wrath or removal. Similar to the fiend hunter trick in your Zur deck.
Interesting. That seems like a pretty decent reason not to run him.
The Ur-Dragon (WUBRG) - Changeling Combo Tribal
Chromium (WUB) - Artifact Beats
Progenitus (WUBRG) - Dredge
Damia, Sage of Stone (GBU) - Elf-storm Tendrils
My Cube Unpowered
My Peasant-ish/Tribal-ish Cube
I got out The Ur-Dragon once, but I found that I couldn't attack with my other creatures without them getting killed. I feel like some evasion is needed if also using those other two attack creatures to get value in the face of opponents easily blocking them. Maybe Shifting Sliver or even Galerider Sliver is probably good enough.
Well I have to admit a lot of my games became centered around trying to pull it off, 7 "druids" is not easy. But games got out of control quick, so the only real out of stopping a player was to take their lands. Man I had one game that was one short. So honestly is not like a broken thing, you work really hard to get it.
That's a good point, I'll add one in.
Overall it's a very hard deck to play. You're never quite sure if you should hold onto your changelings to get ETB triggers if you get Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign, Lathliss, Dragon Queen, Harmonic Sliver, Tuktuk Scrapper, Scourge of Valkas, Reaper King, Dragon's Hoard, Spit Flame.
Or play them out, so that you can get more mana if you draw Gemhide Sliver, Manaweft Sliver, Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro, Seton, Krosan Protector, Elvish Archdruid.
In the end I tended to just hold onto them unless I draw one of the mana enablers, as it's better to not run them into mass removal. But it does mean that you might be a few turns behind where you might have been if you played them out, but the ETB are really powerful, so worth waiting on.
What do you find you mainly do?
I added Seedborn Muse and Wilderness Reclamation as a way to get value from the creature activation's. Never drew one, but these will be the.bomb.com.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Would strongly recommend Endemic Plague. Not because it's good (it is an almost strictly worse than both the wrath cards you mentioned) but because the flavor win is strong. Although, I do look forward to blowing an elf/sliver/goblin tribal deck out of the water with it sometime.
This deck used have Karona, False God at the helm. The Ur-Dragon is a relatively recent change, so I've only played this list half a dozen times since switching up the generals. Off the top of my head, the first time I cast him I immediately died because I tapped out. After that I made the mental switch to only cast him if I had immediate decent attacks so usually I'd spend several turns in advance setting up for him. Trying to prioritize tutoring up Mothdust Changeling, Avian Changeling or another one that has evasion. I've also attacked and then put Sliver Hivelord into play (although I know that doesn't help your build much).
However, The Ur-Dragon is just so dang expensive at 9 mana that he's kind of a plan C in my mind. Usually I'm either top-decking, crushing people, or magical christmas landed him turn 4-5 if I play him. The deck is just too mana hungry to have 9 sitting around unused.
I'm not really a huge fan of those slivers in this deck. All of my non-changelings creatures are either
1)Super Duper Busted With Changelings
2)Find Changelings
3)Do something without changelings required (ramp elves are here)
4)generate card advantage with changelings
The only exception being Goblin Warchief which is getting cut tomorrow because it doesn't do any of those things and is currently only in there as a combo piece of my least used combo.
Outside of The Ur-Dragon being on the battlefield, they don't seem like those slivers don't seem do much at all. Giving a handful of 2/2 changelings unblockable isn't particularly great. Maybe if you were running Coat of Arms and going for a more attack oriented victory?
In my next round of additions Sylvia Brightspear and Khorvath Brightflame are coming in, so they should help a bit with evasion too.
Yeah... 7 is a lot. He is really strong in this deck. I'll ponder him some more. I can just seem him making some of my friends rage quit. Although, I'm playing Liliana's Contract which is 4 demons win on upkeep. I suppose 7 druids: Door To Nothingness someone isn't really that oppressive comparatively. Maybe, I will pick one up.
Note: Mirror Entity and Mutavault help here a lot.
...
This list is getting really tight actually. I've 5 cards I really want to add and roughly 2 I have any interest in cutting.
It's really hand dependent. I guess I usually tend to jam a changeling turn 1 or 2 and then slowroll my next few to trigger stuff. I prioritize using my changelings to achieve the following goals in roughly this order
1) Say a new creature type
2) Draw Cards
3) Ramp
4) Removal
5) Attacking and Damaging people
Of the cards you listed, this is roughly the excitement I have in playing changelings for them
Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
Spit Flame (This is so high because usually I'm playing a changeling for another reason and getting this back is just a bonus)
Dragon's Hoard
Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
Gemhide Sliver, Manaweft Sliver, Seton, Krosan Protector, Elvish Archdruid
Reaper King (This goes higher on the list the later the game goes)
Lathliss, Dragon Queen
Harmonic Sliver
Tuktuk Scrapper
Prophet of kruphix instead of Wilderness Reclamation? Those do seem like the.bomb.com.
I'm curious to know more about how your games went. I'm also surprised you got the deck put together already. That's awesome! How many games did you play, what were the games like and what generals were involved? What cards were good? What cards under-performed?
My last game was vs Nikya of the old ways (only huge creatures.dec) and edgar markov (vampire tribal). The vampire player stumbled on mana. I used Shapesharer to copy Nikya of the old ways and get a ton of mana. Stabilized the board with Lathliss, Dragon Queen and a few dragons. Murdered everything threatening with Walker of Secret Ways, Cryptic Gateway and Reaper King while I won with dragon beats.
I've also gotten smashed recently by that same edgar markov a couple times. Once it just ran me over with tokens and aggro beats. Once a mill deck went after him, got most of his library into the graveyard and cast patriarch's bidding with malakir bloodwitch and 20+ vamps in the yard.
The Ur-Dragon (WUBRG) - Changeling Combo Tribal
Chromium (WUB) - Artifact Beats
Progenitus (WUBRG) - Dredge
Damia, Sage of Stone (GBU) - Elf-storm Tendrils
My Cube Unpowered
My Peasant-ish/Tribal-ish Cube
I've had to put in Demonic Tutor, Cyclonic Rift, Toxic Deluge and Austere Command, Patriarch's Bidding to be able to have any chance of evening up the boards.
This has been my best game yet, was the last one I played ...
My board got mostly wiped when opponent cast his Rakdos, the Showstopper, but if you notice the Patriarch's Bidding in my graveyard, I named "Dinosaur" to literally bring everything back.
Yup this is why we play 8 games to win 1
click here for the larger view
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
How have Gishath, Sun's Avatar and Patriarch's Bidding been for you? Do they seem to pull their own weight without Arcane Adaptation?
Handful of changes. Hopefully I'll get to play some games later next week.
-1 Cultivate
+1 Elder Pine of Jukai
Cultivate might be the slightly better card, but Elder Pine should hopefully dig for lands for me and play a similar role in the deck. Also, it can get back a changeling when it dies. So lots of card advantage potential here.
-1 Urza's Incubator
+1 Harabaz Druid
Most of my changelings are extremely cheap and don't need to get cheaper. I'd have Harabaz Druid to ramp out multiple different 6 drops instead of just one. Also, it is color fixing.
-1 Goblin Warchief
+1 Khorvath Brightflame
Similar role of combo enabler, but Khorvath also grants evasion, is significantly less of a dead card on its own, and adds the knight subtheme.
-1 Angel of Flight Alabaster
+1 Sylvia Brightspear
Gotta play the second half of the partners. Unfortunately, it is another dragon synergy card bringing me up to 4 but I'm not playing Khorvath Brightflame by himself. Angel of Flight Alabaster I found to just have too little of an impact and cost too much mana.
-1 Goblin Trashmaster
+1 Patron of the Vein
I think I need creature removal more than artifact removal. It also will make all my changelings into pretty decent threats eventually. Trashmaster's biggest flaw was that it made me sacrifice changelings and I never wanted to do that at all.
-1 Sage of Fables
+1 Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
Similar card draw role, with an added win-con and less mana inefficient.
The Ur-Dragon (WUBRG) - Changeling Combo Tribal
Chromium (WUB) - Artifact Beats
Progenitus (WUBRG) - Dredge
Damia, Sage of Stone (GBU) - Elf-storm Tendrils
My Cube Unpowered
My Peasant-ish/Tribal-ish Cube
Patriarch's Bidding I've only drawn once and cast once, so obviously been good so far
The other changes I've made is Intruder Alarm, which won me a game. I was searching up the changelings with Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero with Gemhide Sliver in play, so I was gaining mana off tapping them, fueling the ability to search for the even more costly changelings. I even had Khorvath Brightflame in play giving the changelings haste, meaning I could tap them for mana straight away. I had Spit Flame, so was able to generate enough mana eventually to keep casting it to kill of the biggest threats, and each time I search for another changeling, I could return it to cast again. Was pretty, pretty, pretty sweet.
I've put in Martial Coup instead of Toxic Deluge, as I wanted a card that could potentially put lots of tokens into play. That way with Arcane Adaptation you have the means to do some busted stuff.
I end up replacing Cryptic Gateway with Mirari's Wake. I know it's one of your MVPs, but I found with only 4 creatures at 6 mana or more, that the reward isn't high enough. Plus you get this situation, where say you have a pay-off ETB creature like Reaper King, Lathliss, Dragon Queen, Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign, that you don't want to play out the two changelings in the first place, wanting to hold onto them for the triggers. So rather than spending 5 mana on Cryptic Gateway and play out the changelings, it's just better to use 6 mana to cast them out naturally. I had this scenario a few times, and so Cryptic Gateway just became a card I never cast.
I had back-to-back wins today, Liliana's Contract managed to stay in play, so things are going much better, but I did have two opponents hating each other, so had a pretty easy run. But the Intruder Alarm win was hard fought.
Honestly try and find something else to take out rather than Sage of Fables. It's too good, because it can make sure that your changelings can be card neutral, replacing themselves at the very least. I've found it too good personally, to consider removing it. Remember Taurean Mauler can stack +1/+1 counters.
I like Elder Pine of Jukai, that a cool fun edition
I will have to say that Khorvath Brightflame and Khorvath Brightflame have been subtle good. Don't expect immediate impacts with them, but over the course of games, their abilities can help.
Khorvath Brightflame is expensive to cast, but can give you the evasion for your combat draw cards.
And Sylvia Brightspear saved my ass with the double strike, as an opponent had quite an attacking force, but I had just enough double strike blockers, that attacking would cause some causalities, so was holding off for most of the game actually.
So what I'm saying is that look for subtle interactions with them, rather than game changers.
The only other cards I have not been able to get any value from is the Ninjas. I've never had time to cast or Ninjutsu them as I'm almost never attacking.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Maybe I’ll need to pick up a Gishath myself then. It’d give me a dinosaur so I’d have everything but pirates for Grim Captain’s Call which is a card I really want to find a slot for.
Intruder Alarm is a busted busted card. That sounds like an awesome semi-loop you had going there. I guess I try to do similar things with Myr Galvanizer except the myr is just way less good.
Could you post your list? I’m curious to see how much it has changed from mine. How many changelings are you running at the moment? What did you cut for the wrath spells.
I think I use Cryptic Gateway to play changelings more often than non-changelings actually. It singlehandedly allows for a more reactive draw-go style of play because you can trigger all your ETB stuff at instant speed. Changeling Hero in response to a removal spell. Reaperking now is instant speed removal. You can lightly storm off with unesh, criosphinx. It also makes it much more likely that you can untap with creature when you flash them in endstep. Ramping out 6 drops is just gravy on top of everything else.
Last game one of my opponents stopped attacking me because he was scared of me flashing in a big creature to block him. It’s probably a lot worse in the face of lots of wrath spells though.
Nice! Nice! I think you might actually have more experience piloting this deck than I do now.
I am sad about losing the Taurean Mauler and now Patron of the Vein. I just don’t know what I’d cut to put Sage back in. I think the sage is directly competeing with Seafloor Oracle. I think I need to test that card out some more first. I just found paying 2 mana to be frustrating.
Also, I think you previously cut Wirewood Savage. That card is extremely similar in power level to Sage of Oracles.
I see Khorvath Brightflame as a combo piece for my really bad 14 card combo that amuses me. I’m primarily playing him for his haste. Then he comes with the upside of some light evasion and a free extra body in Sylvia who I view as a free bad overrun effect. My expectations of them aren’t blazingly high. I’m glad you’ve been happy with them though.
I get tons of value from Walker of Secret Ways. Usually I end up hard casting her when I have a bunch of mana sitting around and immediately bouncing changelings. She’s an extremely potent mana-dump with how much you can re-use changeling ETBs. She’s reaperking’s best buddy.
Higure is harder to get value from as his ninjutsu cost is actually expensive. However, if he’s down he is tons of value and additionally he finds Walker of Secret ways.
The Ur-Dragon (WUBRG) - Changeling Combo Tribal
Chromium (WUB) - Artifact Beats
Progenitus (WUBRG) - Dredge
Damia, Sage of Stone (GBU) - Elf-storm Tendrils
My Cube Unpowered
My Peasant-ish/Tribal-ish Cube
Because I made the deck online, I can afford to play a million dollar mana base, so that's why I have it completely focused on fixing colors, rather than tribal anything.
You are 100% correct about the Wirewood Savage, I will straight up play it over Sage of Fables, as it means don't also have to spend mana for the draw.
You'll see that I've taken out Elves (expect for the Skyshroud Poacher), I found them to be the most underwhelming as far as mana enablers, and Seton, Krosan Protector ended up a little durdly as well, I've found that Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro, Gemhide Sliver, Manaweft Sliver are better to aim for. Only getting green mana off the elves isn't so good, but Sachi is great because of the double mana.
1 The Ur-Dragon
Changelings (16)
1 Crib Swap
1 Mothdust Changeling
1 Amoeboid Changeling
1 Mirror Entity
1 Shapesharer
1 Fire-Belly Changeling
1 Taurean Mauler
1 Turtleshell Changeling
1 Skeletal Changeling
1 Avian Changeling
1 Woodland Changeling
1 Ghostly Changeling
1 Moonglove Changeling
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Cairn Wanderer
1 Mistform Ultimus
Rebels
1 Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
1 Defiant Vanguard
Elves
1 Skyshroud Poacher
Goblins
1 Moggcatcher
1 Wort, Boggart Auntie
Shaman
1 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
Ally
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Sea Gate Loremaster
Wizard
1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
1 Sage of Fables
Dragons
1 Dragon's Hoard
1 Spit Flame
1 Khorvath Brightflame
1 Lathliss, Dragon Queen
Slivers
1 Gemhide Sliver
1 Manaweft Sliver
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Sliver Overlord
1 Gishath, Sun's Avatar
Druids
1 Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
Spirits
1 Seedborn Muse
Sacrecrows
1 Reaper King
Merfolk
1 Seahunter
Ninja
1 Higure, the Still Wind
1 Walker of Secret Ways
Sphinx
1 Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
Demons
1 Liliana's Contract
Knights
1 Sylvia Brightspear
Tribal value
1 Arcane Adaptation
1 Descendants' Path
1 Call to the Kindred
1 Peer Pressure
1 Patriarch's Bidding
Top deck manipulation
1 Brainstorm
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Scroll Rack
Help with activation/mana
1 Training Grounds
1 Intruder Alarm
1 Wilderness Reclamation
Good Stuff
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Rhystic Study
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Austere Command
1 Martial Coup
Lands (35)
1 Mutavault
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bayou
1 Badlands
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Breeding Pool
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Flooded Strand
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Mana Confluence
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Polluted Delta
1 Plateau
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Savannah
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Scrubland
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Taiga
1 Temple Garden
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Forbidden Orchard
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Dreadhorde Invasion Invade the City Herald of the Dreadhorde Widespread Brutality
Now it's a little confusing at first, but "Army" is just another creature type, of which none has existed so far until now.
The card that interests me for this deck is Widespread Brutality. To me it looks like a one-sided board wrath.
Imagine having three small changelings, Mothdust Changeling, Amoeboid Changeling, Fire-Belly Changeling, all 1/1s.
You'd put 2 x +1/+1 counters on them making them 3/3's, then they would deal 9 damage to each other non-Army creatures. It would take out any of your non-changelings if you had them, but it's like a "destroy all non-changelings and pump up your creatures". Seems awesome in this deck.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
old thread
old thread
old thread
R Zada Arcane Storm
RBU Marchesa
GWU Estrid
GWR Samut?
URB Kess
(R/W)(U/B) Akiri & Silas
BWR Alesha
R Neheb Dragons
G Nylea Wurms
W Darien
U Tetsuko
I really really like the look of this card. Having a second on flavor wrath spell seems really nice, and you have a lot of control over how much damage this is doing to the board. Pay 4 mana to deal 3-6 damage to all non-changelings seems real good.
The thing I'm really excited about is using this with Changeling Hero for a bunch of life gain in addition to wrathing, since this deck really struggles to gain any life back after taking early hits. It's also super strong with Mirror Entity, with enough mana it is just a plague wind. It is also exceptional with Moonglove Changeling. By exceptional, I mean it is actually a wrath. I think best case scenario is a Cairn Wanderer with deathtouch and lifelink.
With seven changeling tutors, I think pulling off Moonglove Changeling with this should be somewhat consistent.
The Ur-Dragon (WUBRG) - Changeling Combo Tribal
Chromium (WUB) - Artifact Beats
Progenitus (WUBRG) - Dredge
Damia, Sage of Stone (GBU) - Elf-storm Tendrils
My Cube Unpowered
My Peasant-ish/Tribal-ish Cube
-1 Kodama's Reach
+1 Thunderherd Migration
The initial thought behind this switch was to change "Boring Manabase Greed Reduction (3)" to "Boring Manabase Greed Reduction (2)" but upon some consideration, removing Kodama's Reach freed me up to remove several basic lands from my deck and replace them with multi-color lands. As a result I think this decks mana-base is actually slightly better even though Migration is a worse mana fixer than Kodama's Reach. Also, now I have dinosaur synergy and truly that is what is most important
-1 Plains
+1 Seraph Sanctuary
This deck actually only runs seven white non-changeling and 4 of them are multi-colored cards. This deck is very light on needing white mana so this change makes the mana base only slightly worse, but Seraph Sanctuary gains me infinite life with the 3 champion changeling loop. I was also looking for incrimental life gain because the deck doesn't have any of that which I noticed was hurting me. Most importantly, now I have angel synergy.
-1 Mountain
+1 Vivid Grove
Only need 1 of each basic for thunderherd migration. Deck needs green mana a lot more than red.
-1 Swamp
+1 Gilt-Leaf Palace
Only need 1 of each basic for thunderherd migration, that's the last of this cycle of lands that I needed.
Game 1 vs Anafenza, the foremost (legendary creatures) and Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain (krark-clan ironworks storm).
I used Crib Swap to exile Elesh-Norn, Grand Cenobite. Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain, cast general, tutored for krark-clan ironworks and killed both of us. I died with two mana up and Spit Flame in hand which I could have used to break his combo and not lose. I wasn't expecting his deck to be able to go off like that though as I hadn't played against it before.
Game 2 vs Anafenza, the foremost (legendary creatures) and Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain (krark-clan ironworks storm).
The game stalled out as I managed to Spit Flame Jhoira to slow him down. I managed to infinite mana with Shapesharer + Myr Galvanizer but I didn't have a sink and so it just cast my The Ur-Dragon and drew me some cards. On his turn Jhoira overloaded Cyclonic Rift, in response I tutored for Changeling Hero and Changeling Titan to keep The Ur-Dragon and Myr Galvanizer in play. The Ur-Dragon put Mana Reflection in play on my next turn and I infinite mana looped the champion changelings to replay my entire board. Shapesharer + Myr Galvanizer allowed me infinite mana at all times and Didgeridoo+Riptide Laboratory allowed me to re-loop my champion changelings to kill every creature with Spit Flame. They ran out of answers and succumbed to Ur-Dragon beats.
I two hit Anafenza by using Amoeboid Changeling + Myr Galvanizer to making The Ur-Dragon an 11/11
Game 3 friend piloting ur-dragon vs Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain (krark-clan ironworks storm), Arcum Dagsson (the usual suspects), Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker (I was piloting my list, sacrifice abuse)
Sol Ring -> Arcum Dagsson -> Arcum Dagsson tapped. Something infinite happened and the table died.
Game 4 friend piloting ur-dragon vs Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain (krark-clan ironworks storm), Arcum Dagsson (the usual suspects), Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker (I was piloting my list, sacrifice abuse)
Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain cast Spellskite which stopped Arcum Dagsson from doing anything. Everyone went into battlecruiser mode. Patron of the Vein single highhandedly housed my Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker stupidity.
Sigil Tracer went on to dominate the game, completely housing the two blue decks.
Here it is triple casting Peer Pressure to steal a bunch of stuff including Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur. Jin-Gitaxias + infinite mana was enough to clench the game.
Harabaz Druid generated a ton of mana. My friend said it was his MVP, so I'd find a way to slip it into your list.
Fun Fact: Patron of the Vein is a Shaman and can tap for mana with Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
I might try this guy over New Blood. New blood is an answer to larger threats but Tolsimir is life gain and re-usable. He's also tutorable with Skyshroud Poacher and gains infinite life with the 3-champion loop. Maybe, I'll cut Marwyn, the Nurturer instead and keep my answer density higher. Hrmmm.
The Ur-Dragon (WUBRG) - Changeling Combo Tribal
Chromium (WUB) - Artifact Beats
Progenitus (WUBRG) - Dredge
Damia, Sage of Stone (GBU) - Elf-storm Tendrils
My Cube Unpowered
My Peasant-ish/Tribal-ish Cube
old thread
old thread
old thread
R Zada Arcane Storm
RBU Marchesa
GWU Estrid
GWR Samut?
URB Kess
(R/W)(U/B) Akiri & Silas
BWR Alesha
R Neheb Dragons
G Nylea Wurms
W Darien
U Tetsuko
As far as the decks I’ve played recently, I think they lean towards more casual. The Arcum Dagsson deck wasn’t super tuned. I mean it was good. It had Force of Will and was filled to the brim with staples but it wasn’t aggressively trying to kill the table turn 4 through hate.
Just glanced at the 75% articles. I’d say Arcum was roughly around a 75% list, but the general himself is so strong that it elevated the list a lot.
Jhoira is hard for me to classify. It was super duper glass cannon. If you respond to KCI on the stack by doom blading Jhoira you were fine. If not, you died. Not casual friendly because of how easily it kills the table. Not really competitive because of how easily it folds. It ran almost no interactive spells at all.
Anafenza was more casual. Wraths and Timmy legends. It was definitely trying to be fair.
I’ve also played against the UB god mill deck which was super casual. Also, the Edgar Markov vampire Aggro, which was more casual. Holy cow Edgar Markov can burn you down fast if you’re not paying attention though.
I’ve a group of friends who play Breya, Waelstrom Wanderer, Ashling, the Pilgrim, and Wort, Raid Mother. They’re doing very optimized fair strategies. So mostly 75% decks.
That’s part of the reason I get excited to find new interaction spells that are on theme. If you just durdle around and ignore everyone, people here will kill you super dead. However, your answers can be kinda janky and that’s still good enough for a decent game of magic.
The Ur-Dragon (WUBRG) - Changeling Combo Tribal
Chromium (WUB) - Artifact Beats
Progenitus (WUBRG) - Dredge
Damia, Sage of Stone (GBU) - Elf-storm Tendrils
My Cube Unpowered
My Peasant-ish/Tribal-ish Cube
I'm going to add Harabaz Druid, my problem with the Elves and Seton, is that they only provided green, and I was not getting the colored mana I needed for the 5 colors.
Peer Pressure is one of the hall mark cards for the deck imo, I used it to just steal one creature in a game, but that was enough to swing it (it was a pump creature, so rather than their creatures getting bigger, mine did).
So it's not like you have to do massive things with it, a simple Control Magic can be good enough.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
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-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Also Runed Stalactite could work as well, especially when equipped on the Ur-Dragon.
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Give a round of applause
For the great Miss Y!
This deck plays out a lot differently than a Mistform Ultimus deck. My understanding is a Mistform Ultimus deck is usually filled with lords that make Mistform Ultimus into a bit of a voltron-beater. This deck has only has five lords that pump changelings' power and toughness. All five of the lords are in the deck primarily for their other abilities and the pump is more gravy. Most of the changelings in this deck are either tapping for mana or being used to trigger some ETB effect. If they're attacking it is usually to draw cards and not actually with the intent of killing anyone. If they're attacking with the intent to kill people they're most likely Flying 10/10s. As a result I've found that costing one less mana is significantly more beneficial than having +1/+1 in stats.
Hence, I'm actually not playing a handful of changelings other that are better than or roughly on powerlevel with Mistform Ultimus (Turtleshell Changeling, War-Spike Changeling, Game-Trail Changeling, Changeling Sentinel) because they're just a touch more mana intensive.
I used to run Runed Stalactite, but it doesn't really do much in this deck because a lot of the value from the changelings is generated when they're not on the battlefield or as they're entering the battlefield. I'm also running Unnatural Selection which is functionally the same but also combos extremely well with Sliver Overlord and has better synergy with Peer Pressure, Endemic Plague, and to a lesser extent Gilt-Leaf Archdruid.
I think I'm even more excited to gain 6 life per enemy creature when I cast it on Changeling Hero, extra points against a token deck.
It's great. I'm happy I've got a foil one. I also didn't realize how busted it was with Unnatural Selection (since you can make enemy creatures the type you're stealing) until I was glancing through the list to see what that combo'd with.
The Ur-Dragon (WUBRG) - Changeling Combo Tribal
Chromium (WUB) - Artifact Beats
Progenitus (WUBRG) - Dredge
Damia, Sage of Stone (GBU) - Elf-storm Tendrils
My Cube Unpowered
My Peasant-ish/Tribal-ish Cube
-1 Marwyn, the Nurturer
Slight tweak. I just remembered that Yuriko is a card. I haven't really cast Marwyn all that much and I've enough combos with the oblivion ring-changeling loop that she's a bit unnecessary now. The correct cut still might have been Seafloor Oracle as these occupy the same space but I like have a tutorable card advantage card with Seahunter. There's a good chance I might cut Seafloor Oracle for Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca. Although, I've also been thinking about sticking in a Wanderwine Prophets. I think that really needs haste to excel though and its really hard to give it haste.
I only got one game in with this deck over the past few weeks. During the game two howling mines got cast along with rites of flourishing and I just didn't draw nearly enough acceleration to keep in the game.
The Ur-Dragon (WUBRG) - Changeling Combo Tribal
Chromium (WUB) - Artifact Beats
Progenitus (WUBRG) - Dredge
Damia, Sage of Stone (GBU) - Elf-storm Tendrils
My Cube Unpowered
My Peasant-ish/Tribal-ish Cube