So, the idea of paying GG for a 12/12 body to throw into Greater Good or some other such ridiculous effect sounds absolutely crazy to me. The idea I had for this deck was to use the commander as fuel as I probably have some huge board already when I can cast the commander or to try to flash / haste it in at people for fast value.
I guess this build is sort of a tempo beat down build. I am hoping to move a lot of resources through my hand and drop some serious fatties into play. Devotion seemed like it was panning out well in several ways considering how the build was going so I added a little bit of land tutoring to get things like Nykthos which I hope to fuel crazy big draws into playing lots of things with.
As I began playing this list I bumped up the importance of haste / flash a bit too which makes my commander a little faster since playing him often involves me overplaying to the board which could be a pain for sweepers.
Scute Mob -> any 1cc Mana dork ?
Scute Mob has never worked for me and I've yet to see it work for anyone else. It's not good early, and then you have to wait for the counters. Even then, it's not Serra Ascendant.
Out of those 1cc pumps, only Berserk seems worthwhile to me since it guarantees 21+ commander damage. There's little reason to play pump in EDH other than to kill an opponent(s), hence Pathbreaker Ibex.
Consider Rogue's Passage since you're playing Ulvenwald Hydra ?
Scute Mob -> any 1cc Mana dork ?
Scute Mob has never worked for me and I've yet to see it work for anyone else. It's not good early, and then you have to wait for the counters. Even then, it's not Serra Ascendant.
Out of those 1cc pumps, only Berserk seems worthwhile to me since it guarantees 21+ commander damage. There's little reason to play pump in EDH other than to kill an opponent(s), hence Pathbreaker Ibex.
Consider Rogue's Passage since you're playing Ulvenwald Hydra ?
Sorry for the delay in responding. I wasn't really sure where I was at on this list and if I was making it or not but I traded for Ghalta the other day so I guess its back on now.
Scute Mob - yea I suppose you are right. It still can become a beast later but its too slow in doing that for now.
Berserk - I am not neccessarily a voltron deck which is why I was a little hesitant on it but I guess form the standpoint that I can always use this on someone else's attacker as removal I guess I might give it a shot.
Rogue's Passage - maybe if I was looking a little more to be a voltron deck but I was more relying on just crushing opponents with a bunch of fatty dudes right now.
I took a while to go through the list and figure out some changes I wanted to make since I am ordering some cards to hopefully put this together for next week. Overall I realized that I think I wanted a little more haste than I had previously in part because it makes the commitment to the board to get my commander out less like feeling like I am over committting and not getting to swing. I still will probably be over committing to the board but the flip side is that I will also be getting to turn sideways.
DECK CHANGES:
Scute Mob -> Berserk the mob could still be a late game beater but its really not good early and it still lacks evasion. Berserk can let me one shot opponents with my commander so I figure its worth at least testing.
Brawn -> Lightning Greaves more haste makes the over commitment of casting a bunch of creatures and following them up with my commander less sketchy.
See the Unwritten -> Pathbreaker Ibex With adding more haste I think the Ibex becomes a lot more formidable. My concern with Ibex is almost always that slow playing him is really not an option but given the flash outlets + haste outlets of the deck I think I am willing to see what he can do. See the Unwritten is an interesting spell but I think for now I am going to pass on it.
Tornado Elemental -> Kozilek, Butcher of Truth Tornado Elemental is more of a control effect, I am aiming for a little more tempo gas so I am going to switch to an aggressive add instead of a reactive one. I like that Kozilek has a big beat stick to him with his annihilate plus the draw 4 cards is unconditional which means even if I am swimming in draw he will give me more. The shuffle effect option that he gives is also interesting in the case I am literally shredding my library with draw. The reason I opted to run him over an Ulamog for instance is the lack of indestructible is actually good as I could contest him with my commander if someone clones or thefts him.
Thespian's Stage -> Hall of the Bandit Lord more haste!!!! Thespian is fine but I didn't see anything I felt I was going to directly need it for. I like it more when I am copying coffers and such but since most of the high value lands here are legendary it seems less likely here. The life loss from Hall is perhaps concerning but I want to play this deck as a red zone deck.
Ultimately these changes push me to be a lot more aggressive but I kind of like that for this deck. I think it should improve my match up against control decks but it will likely force me to race a bit more against other aggressive decks. I think this is probably an ok trade off as I think it fits the commander and list I have a bit better.
Right now, this is all very untested so while I will do my best to reason why I chose to do one thing but perhaps not another, right now I will need to do some testing and adjustments so its very likely I am incorrect in some of my starting assumptions.
2x considerations
1) Vizier of the Menagerie
You have alot of creatures, always nice to get a little extra, like Oracle of Mul Daya but critters
2) Lifecrafter's Bestiary scry 1, pay G when you cast a critter/commander. In green this is the nuts for deck manipulation/draw.
Vizier of the Menagerie - its not bad but I also think it gets better with more topdeck manipulation. Oracle of Mul Daya is so much stronger because it lets you empty your hand and tempo ramp off of cards you didn't have to cast. While this effect is still interesting and we do have a lot of creatures, I think its still probably significantly worse than Oracle of Mul Daya because you have to commit mana to whatever is on top of your library rather than getting free value pickups. I also compare this card to something like Lurking Predators which pays for the creature for you as well and I kind of question it. I think in an ideal situation this card is at its best if pushing more topdeck manipulation like Sensei's Divining Top and or Mirri's Guile
Lifecrafter's Bestiary this is an effect I will honestly have to circle back to after I get some testing. I likewise considered potentially adding something like Zendikar Resurgent. I think that both of these cards are interesting but ultimately my concern for both effects comes down to the cost. With Lifecrafter's Bestiary its a combination concern of paying the three mana to cast it as well as tagging a tax of G to every creature I play. It isn't good enough as a scry bauble ultimately so I am concerned with the mana investment as well as how quickly I get my cards back out of it. To put it a little into perspective I would potentially have to pay 3GGG to draw three cards with this which would be a little questionable in comparison to Harmonize (which is not something I am really considering). Zendikar Resurgent on the other side of the spectrum costs a TON of mana to cast but it gives a spicy amount of mana if it sticks and the draw is built in where as with the Beastiary I have to pay on top of casting them. I think for both of these there is a very big question of how long they have to live before they pay for themselves and right now I feel like Lifecrafter's Bestiary would have a hard time measuring up to Soul's Majesty (which I am not right now running). Ultimately I suspect that Lifecrafter's Bestiary gets better when running ETB tactics with smaller utility creatures but like I said, I need to do some testing before I can really know more.
Thanks, I have been on a tempo kick of late seeing if I can make some kind of unusual things work. I totally understand that running vanilla beaters is a good way to get your ass wrathed off so its hard to say if it works or not but I like that the commander gives me an incentive to do something a little odd and out there.
Been working on a similar deck but with the added bonuses of being able to storm off to win inside a turn.
Some cards that would work really well in you more aggro version of the deck
Food Chain can generate immense amoite of mana (not infinite but a good couple of hundred is a easy target)
With ghata Eldritch Evolution is a better Natural Order
Vigor + ghalta + Grothama, All-Devouring, is absolutely insane, as nothing dies and get absolutely huge meaning your oponest has to remove ghalta or die and you can recast for 2 because grothama is so big, and normally they have to remove grothama as well so you offen still get the card advantage (you just have to be careful not to deck yourself) .
Primeval Protector is normally just g and it can place a huge amount of power on the board very quickly.
Shaman of Forgotten Ways can win games very fast as well as being a very effective mana dork.
Birthing Pod + ghalta = emrakul promised end.
This is a three mana combo for emrakul, (1 for pod then recast ghalat for 2)
I've also found emrakul very easy to hard cast with the reduced casting cost effect.
Bow of Nylea + ghalta = sudo unblockable. Deathtouch and trample combo is highly effective against most decks as it means no matter how they block unless they have 12 blockers they are taking commander damadge, and the other modes are also nice to have.
Decimator of the Provinces can also win games on the spot. Due to the huge CMC of ghalta decimator is offen just a ggg and if you have even a modest board the pump and trample are both very effective Al closing games
Predator Ooze, may not look like much but with it constantly growing and being really difficult to remove, it really dose alot of work for very little mana (also triple devotion)
As you deck hose large rather than wide (also is vunrable to boardwipe)
Avatar of Might may also be a strong addion
Hope you find some of these useful. If you have any idea about the more storm orantatred build I would love suggestions
Food Chain - You know, that is an interesting thought. I am generally against infinite combos but this may be one of the few places I have seen that it would actually be kind of interesting to see this card. I am going to be honest in that I am not.... really sure what I would use this mana to cast though as I would probably need to pair this with Greater Good and alternate casting my commander with casting a bunch of creatures for this to work out but its an interesting thought. If Food Chain was cheaper to get I might toy with it but I am concerned that it is probably some sort of combo or gimmick so for now I will probably pass on it but that is a very interesting thought.
Eldritch Evolution - I might still make room for it. It doesn't seem all that likely that I will sacrifice Ghalta to Natural Order unless its a REALLY big issue that needs solved. I don't really have much concern with sacing my commander to draw 12 but it seems a little more sketch to do it to toolbox out some other random creature. I think the question will be how much I need my silver bullets / gods as to how much I will like both cards. I do think its entirely likely that I at some point put testing into both of these cards but for now I just need to get some testing with the deck in general.
Vigor - its an amusing thought but it sounds very challenging to set up too. Not that its not impressive but Grothama, All-Devouring requires him to have taken damage but which Vigor prevents but I assume you are looking at this as a means to put 10 counters on our commander and 12 counters on Grothama. Overall, my experience with Vigor has been that he feels a little bit winmore in that if you slow roll him he feels like he never lasts but if you already have all the stuffs then why not have any finisher style card? Some of this also comes down to the fact that I was trying to keep my curve from becoming too insane too.
Primeval Protector - its a really cool card and it was in my list as I was drafting it for a long time. There are reasons I cut him though and its generally because I felt he depends a lot on what your opponents are doing. If an opponent is playing tokens then sure he comes out fast but if you are playing against control decks he might feel slow as balls. Ultimately I felt it was better to use creatures that build off of what I am doing than make assumptions based on what my opponents might be doing.
Shaman of Forgotten Ways - I had it in my list early on. Overall I am not sure where I stand on the formidable ability as I know its strong it just feels like a jerk move for a deck I was ultimately trying to win in a little more of a traditional means. I also had some concerns that I felt like the mana he provides also feels a little more questionable when I don't curve him and that is some of my concern. Lots of the other creatures can give a ton of mana even if drawn later on.
Birthing Pod - most of my creatures are not ETB / Death value so much as just beaters. Pod is great value I just am not a deck built on silver bullets and so, while I think its a great card, I didn't think it fit here. Emrakul could be a think I maybe could run here but I doubt that she is that impressive to throw away a 12/12 trampler to go get. Its not bad, I just don't think the general use for this list really lends itself to this deck.
Bow of Nylea - ohhhhh I am not running that hu.... ummmmmm yea I will see if I can toy with the list tonight. I am finishing the build tonight and trying to run it tomorrow so I will see if I can do something somewhere. I agree it does seem nice with trample.
Decimator of the Provinces - maybe, its not a bad effect and yea it could be fairly easy to cast with our commander (at the cost of not also attacking with our commander or paying more mana). Overall for now though I want to try to keep the curve a bit lower which is the reason I didn't include a LOT of good looking big fatty creatures and wincons.
Predator Ooze - I do like how robust it is and you are correct it could be really solid if curved. The big concern I have for a card like this though is when I find it on turn 10 how does it look? The time to spin this guy up is somewhat a long time so the reason I passed on it in favor of a lot of other creatures is that while they might be played early and be impressive, the time to spin this guy up felt a little concerning to me when drawn later on.
Avatar of Might - maybe, again though similarly to Primeval Protector I prefer to build on what I am doing than to assume an opponent will do something for me to do something easier. What if nobody is playing swarm and it takes until turn 8 or later for that to be accomplished?
Not to shoot down ideas, I think I likely do need to make room for Bow of Nylea and several of your other ideas do have some valid points but right now I need to do some testing and see how things stand before I can know what is a problem and what isn't for me.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Well, I got a chance to play three games last week with this deck. Overall, I had a lot of fun and it was very interesting and different.
G1: My opponent played a T4 Atarka, World Render (my T3) and on his T5 (my T4) he bloodlusted and OTKed me. G2: Same opponents, I curved well and crushed my opponents. Atarka was slower to play his commander and I saved a Chord of Calling for Duplicant if he came my way which he did not. I also did do 12 dmg to Atarka with my commander before he could swing and then he was sort of at my mercy from there. He also knew that if he hit me with his commander I would hit him back so he had to OTK me which he couldn't do. G3: was a long game and honestly I waited to do these reviews which makes it harder to turn by turn review what happened. In short, Mairsil, the Pretender got Aetherling caged and then caged Nevinyrral's Disk (like a dick). The game got ugly fast and I ended up getting set to 4hp from a freaking caged Tree of Perdition but I also got Mairsil to single digit hp. The mono blue player chained a *****load of extra turns and managed to get Mairsil to tap out on mana to not die. The final player killed the Mairsil player. From here, I am not sitting so well so I try a Berserk + haste boots on my commander play but the Berserk gets misdirectioned. Then a combination of Stormtide Leviathan + Meekstone drops in. I Duplicant out the Leviathan and take a hit from a 3/1 V Clique going to 1hp. The Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist player tries to attack me with their commander + several creatures but I stop them on declaring attacks and I use Setessan Tactics on three of my untapped creatures. I fight their commander so I can block if attacked. They attack me with 4 creatures and I block two of them and fight the other two to survive (they didn't think that one through). I untap, Ezuri's Predation (mostly to remove the flying 3/1 and generate tokens for my Gaea's Cradle. Sacrifice my commander to draw 12, replay commander, sacrifice him to draw 12 + gain 12hp. Then I storm off a BUNCH of spells chaining tons of mana and fighting through the blue players defenses. I Overwhelming Stampede for 14 buff on three creatures with haste (hall + boots + vengevine) and swing to kill the blue player and set the other to 1hp. The remaining player wraths, Teferi's Protection, and then dies.
Anyways, I kind of overstated the creature toolboxing needs of this deck so I am going to make a few adjustments. Mostly I didn't see a lot of situations where I had silver bullets that were needed so I felt like several of the cards I just didn't really use.
DECK CHANGE:
Fauna Shaman -> Swiftfoot Boots - I just, wanted more haste like all the time. It makes my commander far more concerning and in the case of the creatures who tap for mana and stuff its just crazy what a difference it adds.
Sword of Feast and Famine -> Bow of Nylea - I did this change last week and it was actually relevant. I ended up casting it as one of the things I cast before attacking with the crazy Overwhelming Stampede which made the last attack even more lethal.
Rancor -> Burgeoning - Rancor is cool, but I don't think its as important as I was thinking. Getting more lands into play faster does seem relevant though especially with the big burst draw + the no max hand size effects.
Survival of the Fittest -> Thought Vessel - I just didn't really find myself wanting or needing to spend the time on survival. I did however find that the no max hand size was really relevant so I guess I can add some more cheap ramp with that attached.
Regal Force -> Soul's Majesty - It is cheaper and I am playing more of big creatures than big numbers of creatures. I didn't really see myself tutoring for Regal Force so I think its better to just go with bigger single target draw instead. It also cuts some mana cost which is a thing.
I might also possibly consider Azusa, Lost but Seeking in place of Burgeoning but with the HUGE draws and no max hand size it would have been a nice add but outside of that Azusa might be better. I guess I will do a bit more testing and see which I prefer. In opening hands I like the idea of Burgeoning a lot more as well as times I might have no max hand size. I can also tutor for Reliquary Tower so I guess I will just toy with it and see if I see a big difference when I see the card.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
For haste Thousand-Year Elixir can do the job about 50% of the time. It's really powerful with selvan and shaman.
The only other sources of universal haste that I've found is
Concordant Crossroads (but that's oponest stuff as well)
And decimator. Be the only tutorable scource.
For a cheap card draw and value engine I recommend Benefactor's Draught, it can either be used as huge card draw and/or help to reuse cretures with tapped abilities.
Also mouth//feed is another excellent card draw engine
I also recommend Crop Rotation to find tower, shrine, or utility land of the hour.
Uncage the Menagerie is also another solid "card draw", normally for 5 mana you get rhonas and selevia and the hate of the hour (rec sage, witness, hydra, omanath,
Prowling Serpopard, dungrove ect)
Thousand-Year Elixir - I think its decent and yes it would be really handy for the few big mana producers I have in my list but I also don't have that many tap ability creatures in my list that I think this is really great. I like haste in a large part due to my ability to over extend a little onto the board and play my commander + attack with him getting faster value back out of my commander.
Concordant Crossroads - I do think you "probably" are right that I should at some point consider this. I am still always leery of this card given the global element of it. Let me do some more testing and get more used to the deck first. Its... probable that I am the aggressor with this deck but even with me saying that, I am always leery of this card.
Decimator of the Provinces - I still think it seems very situational. The buff is such that it wants me to go wide and while yes, I could cast it by giving up my commander I am not convinced that the buff is really that impressive and at the loss of my commander (probably) it means he won't be buffed / have haste himself. Right now a lot of my build is assuming I have my commander and maybe just a few other creatures in play which I don't think plays to this all that well. Right now I only have like two means of making tokens and I don't know that this is really what I need.
Benefactor's Draught - I am going to be totally honest, I don't really know what you see in this card.
Mouth // Feed its ok but I still think this is really secondary to Shamanic Revelation and I don't think that that spell makes the cut by a whole lot as it stands.
Crop Rotation - I like this card a lot more when I have access to black (Bojuka Bog). I agree that its a good card and maybe I can make room for it at some point. There are some really nice utility lands in here but there is also the question of if I would prefer something like say Reap and Sow which also ramps me a land (any land). Crop Rotation is totally legit though and I could see adding it, but I am not convinced it is the only option I could consider.
Uncage the Menagerie - I think its an interesting card, I just think the return is a little questionable for the mana especially since these creatures just go to my hand rather than play.
I think I might try to make room for Azusa, Lost but Seeking after some thought. I just have to figure out where I am including her and what is being cut.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I thought a bit more on Benefactor's Draught and while I think there are some cool uses for it, ultimately I think it probably comes down to a question of how much opposing aggro I encounter as to how useful it would be to me. It isn't bad in that it cantrips so its not really bad anytime and if I do have the creatures which tap for mana it could be sweet but I also think towards what I would cut to include it which for now I don't know what I would cut.
DECK CHANGES:
Duskwatch Recruiter -> Azusa, Lost but Seeking - I like the recruiter but when I would get it early and potentially have mana to dump to him I found him flipping on me which was awkward. Ultimately my draw has been really good and while the cost reduction on his flip could be useful I have found my inability to control which side he is on annoying as hell. Azusa plays well into the draw heavy build that I have right now.
Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma -> Ugin, the Spirit Dragon - I realized I could maybe use a little more control in the list and while Goreclaw is cool, I think there are a lot of situations he isn't great for me in this deck still too. His stats are just kind of ok on curve and kind of lackluster afterwards. His cost reduction is cool but any fatty creature cost reduces more than he does for my commander and when I broke down how many creatures in the deck he cost reduces it didn't seem enough. Ugin gives me a great board clear that keeps my commander in the game which seems kind of great as a means to clear problems while kicking some ass.
I have a little concern given I am pushing up mana costs with these changes. The ability to move more lands to play though with Azusa should be a net mana gain for the deck though and while moving a 4 drop to an 8 drop kind of sucks, I think the extra removal will pay off for me in this deck.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Overall, the deck has been doing well. I need to bump up my ability to put lands into play a little. I ran into some issues this week playing against my own chromium deck as well as doing larger player games (vs blue decks) in that I got heavily countered. If that continues I may resort to putting in some Defense Grid type effects.
Tendershoot Dryad -> Whiptongue Hydra - I have not actually seen Tendershoot Dryad in this deck yet but it occurs to me that there is an issue in that it takes time to get stats to the board which means that casting it won't help my commander much the turn I play it which seems maybe like a problem. Whiptongue Hydra seems interesting as I have had a small bit of issue with flyers and I like that this has decent stats which is why I am going to run it over Silklash Spider.
Explore -> Gaea's Touch - so, explore is probably the better card on curve but with the amount of draw I have in here I think I want to be able to continue to play extra lands each turn.
Sylvan Scrying -> Altar of Dementia Sylvan Scrying is fine, its just that this week my nonbasic lands didn't have a great showing in due to an increase in wraths and control in my old meta (where I was this week). I got to thinking though, I could in a pinch probably mill murder someone with Ghalta using Altar of Dementia. I figured I would give it a shot at least and see if it ever seems to make sense to try it.
Shamanic Revelation -> Cream of the Crop I play big fat creatures rather than large numbers. It seems like it makes more sense to be able to cherry pick my next draw repeatedly rather than a questionable 5 drop draw spell (I am not really swarming).
Forest -> Miren, the Moaning Well There have been a few times now where I have gotten low and it resulted in my death. I think while I have issues with Miren in a lot of cases I want to at least maybe have the functionality to gain life.
I did have a really sweet game with a T1 Burgeoning T3 Grothama, All-Devouring T4 Commander. That game went super well and I rolled my opponents. Later when I brought this deck out for a 6 player game I ate a bunch of counterspells and it went poorly lol. Overall, I suspect that Altar of Dementia might be too cute but I can see a lot of situations where I have like 20+ Power on board where I could opt to cycle my commander a few times for a powerful mill cannon.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I guess this build is sort of a tempo beat down build. I am hoping to move a lot of resources through my hand and drop some serious fatties into play. Devotion seemed like it was panning out well in several ways considering how the build was going so I added a little bit of land tutoring to get things like Nykthos which I hope to fuel crazy big draws into playing lots of things with.
As I began playing this list I bumped up the importance of haste / flash a bit too which makes my commander a little faster since playing him often involves me overplaying to the board which could be a pain for sweepers.
1 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
CREATURES (30)
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
1 Gyre Sage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1 Dungrove Elder
1 Eternal Witness
1 Managorger Hydra
1 Omnath, Locus of Mana
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Reverent Hunter
1 Rhonas the Indomitable
1 Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Wayward Swordtooth
1 Forgotten Ancient
1 Karametra's Acolyte
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Surrak, the Hunt Caller
1 Vengevine
1 Yeva, Nature's Herald
1 Grothama, All-Devouring
1 Kalonian Hydra
1 Bane of Progress
1 Duplicant
1 Pathbreaker Ibex
1 Ulvenwald Hydra
1 Whiptongue Hydra
1 Woodland Bellower
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Altar of Dementia
1 Emerald Medallion
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Thought Vessel
1 Bow of Nylea
ENCHANTMENT (7)
1 Exploration
1 Burgeoning
1 Cream of the Crop
1 Gaea's Touch
1 Sylvan Library
1 Greater Good
1 Lurking Predators
INSTANT (7)
1 Berserk
1 Heroic Intervention
1 Setessan Tactics
1 Beast Within
1 Chord of Calling
1 Hunter's Insight
1 Momentous Fall
SORCERY (10)
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Life's Legacy
1 Genesis Wave
1 Natural Order
1 Pir's Whim
1 Overwhelming Stampede
1 Soul's Majesty
1 Traverse the Outlands
1 Rishkar's Expertise
1 Ezuri's Predation
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
LAND (35)
25 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Strip Mine
1 Winding Canyons
1 Yavimaya Hollow
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[Modern] Allies
I think you might find this Survival of the Fittest interaction more useful you.
Scute Mob -> any 1cc Mana dork ?
Scute Mob has never worked for me and I've yet to see it work for anyone else. It's not good early, and then you have to wait for the counters. Even then, it's not Serra Ascendant.
Out of those 1cc pumps, only Berserk seems worthwhile to me since it guarantees 21+ commander damage. There's little reason to play pump in EDH other than to kill an opponent(s), hence Pathbreaker Ibex.
Consider Rogue's Passage since you're playing Ulvenwald Hydra ?
Sorry for the delay in responding. I wasn't really sure where I was at on this list and if I was making it or not but I traded for Ghalta the other day so I guess its back on now.
Scute Mob - yea I suppose you are right. It still can become a beast later but its too slow in doing that for now.
Berserk - I am not neccessarily a voltron deck which is why I was a little hesitant on it but I guess form the standpoint that I can always use this on someone else's attacker as removal I guess I might give it a shot.
Rogue's Passage - maybe if I was looking a little more to be a voltron deck but I was more relying on just crushing opponents with a bunch of fatty dudes right now.
I took a while to go through the list and figure out some changes I wanted to make since I am ordering some cards to hopefully put this together for next week. Overall I realized that I think I wanted a little more haste than I had previously in part because it makes the commitment to the board to get my commander out less like feeling like I am over committting and not getting to swing. I still will probably be over committing to the board but the flip side is that I will also be getting to turn sideways.
DECK CHANGES:
Ultimately these changes push me to be a lot more aggressive but I kind of like that for this deck. I think it should improve my match up against control decks but it will likely force me to race a bit more against other aggressive decks. I think this is probably an ok trade off as I think it fits the commander and list I have a bit better.
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[Modern] Allies
1) Vizier of the Menagerie
You have alot of creatures, always nice to get a little extra, like Oracle of Mul Daya but critters
2) Lifecrafter's Bestiary scry 1, pay G when you cast a critter/commander. In green this is the nuts for deck manipulation/draw.
Vizier of the Menagerie - its not bad but I also think it gets better with more topdeck manipulation. Oracle of Mul Daya is so much stronger because it lets you empty your hand and tempo ramp off of cards you didn't have to cast. While this effect is still interesting and we do have a lot of creatures, I think its still probably significantly worse than Oracle of Mul Daya because you have to commit mana to whatever is on top of your library rather than getting free value pickups. I also compare this card to something like Lurking Predators which pays for the creature for you as well and I kind of question it. I think in an ideal situation this card is at its best if pushing more topdeck manipulation like Sensei's Divining Top and or Mirri's Guile
Lifecrafter's Bestiary this is an effect I will honestly have to circle back to after I get some testing. I likewise considered potentially adding something like Zendikar Resurgent. I think that both of these cards are interesting but ultimately my concern for both effects comes down to the cost. With Lifecrafter's Bestiary its a combination concern of paying the three mana to cast it as well as tagging a tax of G to every creature I play. It isn't good enough as a scry bauble ultimately so I am concerned with the mana investment as well as how quickly I get my cards back out of it. To put it a little into perspective I would potentially have to pay 3GGG to draw three cards with this which would be a little questionable in comparison to Harmonize (which is not something I am really considering). Zendikar Resurgent on the other side of the spectrum costs a TON of mana to cast but it gives a spicy amount of mana if it sticks and the draw is built in where as with the Beastiary I have to pay on top of casting them. I think for both of these there is a very big question of how long they have to live before they pay for themselves and right now I feel like Lifecrafter's Bestiary would have a hard time measuring up to Soul's Majesty (which I am not right now running). Ultimately I suspect that Lifecrafter's Bestiary gets better when running ETB tactics with smaller utility creatures but like I said, I need to do some testing before I can really know more.
Thanks, I have been on a tempo kick of late seeing if I can make some kind of unusual things work. I totally understand that running vanilla beaters is a good way to get your ass wrathed off so its hard to say if it works or not but I like that the commander gives me an incentive to do something a little odd and out there.
Not to shoot down ideas, I think I likely do need to make room for Bow of Nylea and several of your other ideas do have some valid points but right now I need to do some testing and see how things stand before I can know what is a problem and what isn't for me.
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G1: My opponent played a T4 Atarka, World Render (my T3) and on his T5 (my T4) he bloodlusted and OTKed me.
G2: Same opponents, I curved well and crushed my opponents. Atarka was slower to play his commander and I saved a Chord of Calling for Duplicant if he came my way which he did not. I also did do 12 dmg to Atarka with my commander before he could swing and then he was sort of at my mercy from there. He also knew that if he hit me with his commander I would hit him back so he had to OTK me which he couldn't do.
G3: was a long game and honestly I waited to do these reviews which makes it harder to turn by turn review what happened. In short, Mairsil, the Pretender got Aetherling caged and then caged Nevinyrral's Disk (like a dick). The game got ugly fast and I ended up getting set to 4hp from a freaking caged Tree of Perdition but I also got Mairsil to single digit hp. The mono blue player chained a *****load of extra turns and managed to get Mairsil to tap out on mana to not die. The final player killed the Mairsil player. From here, I am not sitting so well so I try a Berserk + haste boots on my commander play but the Berserk gets misdirectioned. Then a combination of Stormtide Leviathan + Meekstone drops in. I Duplicant out the Leviathan and take a hit from a 3/1 V Clique going to 1hp. The Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist player tries to attack me with their commander + several creatures but I stop them on declaring attacks and I use Setessan Tactics on three of my untapped creatures. I fight their commander so I can block if attacked. They attack me with 4 creatures and I block two of them and fight the other two to survive (they didn't think that one through). I untap, Ezuri's Predation (mostly to remove the flying 3/1 and generate tokens for my Gaea's Cradle. Sacrifice my commander to draw 12, replay commander, sacrifice him to draw 12 + gain 12hp. Then I storm off a BUNCH of spells chaining tons of mana and fighting through the blue players defenses. I Overwhelming Stampede for 14 buff on three creatures with haste (hall + boots + vengevine) and swing to kill the blue player and set the other to 1hp. The remaining player wraths, Teferi's Protection, and then dies.
Anyways, I kind of overstated the creature toolboxing needs of this deck so I am going to make a few adjustments. Mostly I didn't see a lot of situations where I had silver bullets that were needed so I felt like several of the cards I just didn't really use.
DECK CHANGE:
I might also possibly consider Azusa, Lost but Seeking in place of Burgeoning but with the HUGE draws and no max hand size it would have been a nice add but outside of that Azusa might be better. I guess I will do a bit more testing and see which I prefer. In opening hands I like the idea of Burgeoning a lot more as well as times I might have no max hand size. I can also tutor for Reliquary Tower so I guess I will just toy with it and see if I see a big difference when I see the card.
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I think I might try to make room for Azusa, Lost but Seeking after some thought. I just have to figure out where I am including her and what is being cut.
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DECK CHANGES:
I have a little concern given I am pushing up mana costs with these changes. The ability to move more lands to play though with Azusa should be a net mana gain for the deck though and while moving a 4 drop to an 8 drop kind of sucks, I think the extra removal will pay off for me in this deck.
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I did have a really sweet game with a T1 Burgeoning T3 Grothama, All-Devouring T4 Commander. That game went super well and I rolled my opponents. Later when I brought this deck out for a 6 player game I ate a bunch of counterspells and it went poorly lol. Overall, I suspect that Altar of Dementia might be too cute but I can see a lot of situations where I have like 20+ Power on board where I could opt to cycle my commander a few times for a powerful mill cannon.
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