Lately in standard, I've been rockin something close to this. It's varied a bit as I try different cards, but it's the general idea, so I'll list all cards I've been trying out.
I'm interested in making this thing work for multiplayer, and even more interested in getting as many 3-5cmc evasive/flying creatures in here as I can, without awful drawbacks like like most of the demons seem to. Any suggestions?
I'm thinking some Steve, Hydra Omnivore possibly, and maybe some Banshee of the Dread Choir. I'm gonna put some trample enablers in here too.
One thing I'm wary of looking for, is a way to prevent decking myself. This deck can draw a tonne of cards! Barishi is one I know of, that synergizes with Henge & Kiora, but also leaves the land cards in the grave, which helps to keep Cavalier of FLames' ability alive. If there is anything that might be better here, please let me know.
The main thing that every Kiora deck needs is cards like Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth. Not only do they power you into turn 2 Kioras but they can also be untapped in order to produce multiple mana. While I tend to avoid 2 drops in these types of shells (I focus on the 1 -> 3 curve) you can do things like curve Wild Growth into Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner + Lupine Prototype on turn 2 to start your engine going. If you're wondering "why that card?" it's because I almost always use Selvala, Heart of the Wilds as my other 3 drop because that card is busted with all of your cheap 5 power creatures. Still, I personally don't think that the creatures themselves matter nearly as much (they're mostly interchangeable) and that your primary focus should be centered around ensuring that you're consistently ramping out your powerful haymakers and abusing untap effects with permanents that produce multiple mana. Untapping a Wild Growth'd land or a Selvala, Heart of the Wilds feels so good that you'll be hooked.
By the way, Selvala is practically unaffordable alas!
HOLY COW SHE'S 40? Geez. Still, you have to admit that it would be a ton of fun to curve Rotting Regisaur into God-Eternal Rhonas and then tapping her for 14 mana lol.
The main thing that every Kiora deck needs is cards like Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth.
....
I almost always use Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
....
I personally don't think that the creatures themselves matter nearly as much (they're mostly interchangeable).
Thanks again.
I think I'll avoid Lupine Prototype, but I see your point. As for Selvala, I missed the boat on that one.
Sprawl & Wild Growth, haha I've gotten so much use out of those two cards. Thing is with these, once Henge hits the table, I'm thinking of repeatedly untapping Henge for the lifegain - I'm thinking of you Gary!
I totally agree on the creatures more or less being interchangeable, they're just there to feed the engine and eventually beat face.
Invigorate! Now that is the sort of card I can get behind. Great suggestion
Once Henge hits the table you're already happy. Now you're drawing 3+ cards per turn while constantly slamming bombs. They have removal? You don't care! Your cards already replaced themselves twice over so even if they Wrath your board away you can simply refill both it and your hand every turn until they crack. I really like Wild Growth in these decks because even lategame they're lands that you can play any number of copies of each turn which is relevant when you're double cantripping off of your threats. Even without untappers they're mana neutral and once you have 2+ of them on a land that you can untap then suddenly they're all mana positive. Normally that wouldn't matter much because you run of threats too quickly for this type of thing to matter but that's where Kiora + Henge kick things into overdrive. Every fatty starts double or triple cantripping and pretty soon you're flooding the board with 18 mana worth of threats every turn of every game.
The Great Henge has become a kill on sight spell when I play it, unless people are doing anti lifegain stuff (which is increasing in our meta), either way, it neuters some of it's effectiveness for me. That being said, the card is a pure bomb and playable in so many different types of decks.
I would like to see JUND list as I play a GRUUL one that is ever evolving
The Great Henge has become a kill on sight spell when I play it....
All the great cards are kill-on-sight. Henge and Kiora have the benefit of, at least one of them surviving the vast majority of sweepers that see play in my group, so I'll take that. Temur Ascendancy is another possible choice if you prefer a build with blue, and it's not legendary, so there's that.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
So far I'm prioritizing creatures that can come down early, preferably flying. Cockroach-like cards like Rekindling Phoenix are always good, my group loves sweepers. Black drain has made a comeback lately in my group, so I may have to focus on lifegain creatures for survival. Invigorate, Wild Growth & Utopia Sprawl look like making the cut in some numbers, otherwise I'm gonna try to keep the creature count as high as possible. It's taking shape, but I'm not set on which creatures I wanna use yet.
Black drain has made a comeback lately in my group, so I may have to focus on lifegain creatures for survival.
Even though it's not a creature I want to point out that Roots of Life basically reads "you can't die to damage" if people are on the Blue or Black train. Especially if people have Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoths to fuel their Cabal Coffers or whatever; I've seen life totals soar past 200 since you're often gaining ~20 per circuit once the midgame hits. It completely kills their Exsanguinates and Gray Merchant of Asphodels and Black sucks at killing Enchantments. Mire in Misery doesn't even work unless they pair it with a mass removal spell first and even then you just bin your Wild Growth with a smile on your face. I know that it's not budget-friendly but I'll actually play 2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in these decks even if I don't have any Black cards. It's such a stupidly obscene quantity of life that it's well worth adding the "colorless" land.
I would like to see JUND list as I play a GRUUL one that is ever evolving
It might not be what you're looking for but I've toyed with a "4 color" version of this deck that abuse Obzedat, Ghost Council and Darigaaz Reincarnated alongside recursion such as Footsteps of the Goryo. I assume that people can piece together how the deck works (recur creatures that don't really die at EOT) and once you assemble Obzedat + Henge you're suddenly drawing a ton of cards while smacking people for (at least) 8 damage each circuit. Another way to build it is with Tectonic Hellion which is a card that I've thoroughly enjoyed building around. You basically go:
Everyone is locked at 2 lands tops but you have The Great Henge and Chrome Mox/Mox Diamond for mana which gives you a huge advantage over them. It leads to fun and interesting games of Magic where everyone laughs and has a good time. No salt whatsoever.
Lately in standard, I've been rockin something close to this. It's varied a bit as I try different cards, but it's the general idea, so I'll list all cards I've been trying out.
26 Jund Lands
Card Draw - 4 The Great Henge & 4 Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner
Removal - Murderous Rider & Bonecrusher Giant
4+ Power Creatures - Lovestruck Beast, Rotting Regisaur, Questing Beast, Shifting Ceratops, Spawn of Mayhem, Skarrgan Hellkite, Cavalier of Flame, God-Eternal Rhonas, Ilharg, the Raze-Boar etc.
The deck works well enough for standard, but I know it's not fast enough for some meta's.
I'm interested in making this thing work for multiplayer, and even more interested in getting as many 3-5cmc evasive/flying creatures in here as I can, without awful drawbacks like like most of the demons seem to. Any suggestions?
I'm thinking some Steve, Hydra Omnivore possibly, and maybe some Banshee of the Dread Choir. I'm gonna put some trample enablers in here too.
One thing I'm wary of looking for, is a way to prevent decking myself. This deck can draw a tonne of cards!
Barishi is one I know of, that synergizes with Henge & Kiora, but also leaves the land cards in the grave, which helps to keep Cavalier of FLames' ability alive. If there is anything that might be better here, please let me know.
Thoughts?
Improvements?
As for big flyers, maybe look at red dragons instead of black demons. Verix Bladewing would synergize well, I think. Or let Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury dash in and out to get triggers. Glorybringer, Demanding Dragon, etc.
Rekindling Phoenix is another red flyer big and cheap enough to synergize here.
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Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
By the way, Selvala is practically unaffordable alas!
My meta: 3 or 4 player free for all, anything goes but boring games or broken decks cause a vote to end that game.
No for sure, the card basically never attacks or blocks in these shells. It's only there to draw cards and produce mana. Lovestruck Beast seems like a fantastic addition though since it's a card that actually blocks well even if it can't do much attacking. Still, I do want to point out that turn 1 Wild Growth, turn 2 Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner + Lupine Prototype, turn 3 The Great Henge is a real curve and Lovestruck Beast can't enable that at 3 CMC. Turn 2 Lupine Prototype, turn 3 Invigorate + The Great Henge also works for what it's worth .
HOLY COW SHE'S 40? Geez. Still, you have to admit that it would be a ton of fun to curve Rotting Regisaur into God-Eternal Rhonas and then tapping her for 14 mana lol.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Thanks again.
I think I'll avoid Lupine Prototype, but I see your point. As for Selvala, I missed the boat on that one.
Sprawl & Wild Growth, haha I've gotten so much use out of those two cards. Thing is with these, once Henge hits the table, I'm thinking of repeatedly untapping Henge for the lifegain - I'm thinking of you Gary!
I totally agree on the creatures more or less being interchangeable, they're just there to feed the engine and eventually beat face.
Invigorate! Now that is the sort of card I can get behind. Great suggestion
Thanks! Rekindling Phoenix I own already, Verix looks good too!
Once Henge hits the table you're already happy. Now you're drawing 3+ cards per turn while constantly slamming bombs. They have removal? You don't care! Your cards already replaced themselves twice over so even if they Wrath your board away you can simply refill both it and your hand every turn until they crack. I really like Wild Growth in these decks because even lategame they're lands that you can play any number of copies of each turn which is relevant when you're double cantripping off of your threats. Even without untappers they're mana neutral and once you have 2+ of them on a land that you can untap then suddenly they're all mana positive. Normally that wouldn't matter much because you run of threats too quickly for this type of thing to matter but that's where Kiora + Henge kick things into overdrive. Every fatty starts double or triple cantripping and pretty soon you're flooding the board with 18 mana worth of threats every turn of every game.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
I would like to see JUND list as I play a GRUUL one that is ever evolving
All the great cards are kill-on-sight. Henge and Kiora have the benefit of, at least one of them surviving the vast majority of sweepers that see play in my group, so I'll take that. Temur Ascendancy is another possible choice if you prefer a build with blue, and it's not legendary, so there's that.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
So far I'm prioritizing creatures that can come down early, preferably flying. Cockroach-like cards like Rekindling Phoenix are always good, my group loves sweepers. Black drain has made a comeback lately in my group, so I may have to focus on lifegain creatures for survival. Invigorate, Wild Growth & Utopia Sprawl look like making the cut in some numbers, otherwise I'm gonna try to keep the creature count as high as possible. It's taking shape, but I'm not set on which creatures I wanna use yet.
Even though it's not a creature I want to point out that Roots of Life basically reads "you can't die to damage" if people are on the Blue or Black train. Especially if people have Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoths to fuel their Cabal Coffers or whatever; I've seen life totals soar past 200 since you're often gaining ~20 per circuit once the midgame hits. It completely kills their Exsanguinates and Gray Merchant of Asphodels and Black sucks at killing Enchantments. Mire in Misery doesn't even work unless they pair it with a mass removal spell first and even then you just bin your Wild Growth with a smile on your face. I know that it's not budget-friendly but I'll actually play 2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in these decks even if I don't have any Black cards. It's such a stupidly obscene quantity of life that it's well worth adding the "colorless" land.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
It might not be what you're looking for but I've toyed with a "4 color" version of this deck that abuse Obzedat, Ghost Council and Darigaaz Reincarnated alongside recursion such as Footsteps of the Goryo. I assume that people can piece together how the deck works (recur creatures that don't really die at EOT) and once you assemble Obzedat + Henge you're suddenly drawing a ton of cards while smacking people for (at least) 8 damage each circuit. Another way to build it is with Tectonic Hellion which is a card that I've thoroughly enjoyed building around. You basically go:
Turn 1 Entomb/Faithless Looting and bin Tectonic Hellion.
Turn 2 Exhume/Animate Dead and attack to take people back to 1 land. Chrome Mox/Mox Diamond help. Going last is ideal.
Turn 3 The Great Henge and keep attacking.
Everyone is locked at 2 lands tops but you have The Great Henge and Chrome Mox/Mox Diamond for mana which gives you a huge advantage over them. It leads to fun and interesting games of Magic where everyone laughs and has a good time. No salt whatsoever.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold