I've been thinking of building a creature-based Jund with heavy use of Birthing Pod and generating value off creatures while dumping them in the grave to reanimate later and keep the value train going.
In general, what advice would you give for building Pod EDH? Whether if you've played it yourself, or have seen others play it.
What Jund-colored Enter/Leaves battlefield shenanigan creatures have you seen do work? So far, here's what I have going in:
Twitch: MTGJankmaster; lurking>streaming (but maybe one day when I get good at magic)
xMage: Jankmaster Commander - Now Playing WUBSen Triplets - "If you shake my hand, better count your fingersBUWRHomura, Human AscendantRRGBorborygmos EnragedGRURMelek, Izzet ParagonRU
Commander - Still Brewing BRGGyrus, Waker of CorpsesGRBURSaheeli, the GiftedRUWRJor Kadeen, the PrevailerRW
Well I do have a specialized Bant deck based around Birthing Pod. With blue I am able to make multiple copies of it Copy Artifact, Clever Impersonator, etc, to get a huge value train going in a turn.
Before we even get to the creatures, here are some tips.
Firstly there is getting the Birthing Pod, without it the rest is pointless. So you do need a number of tutors, what ever your budget can afford.
You will also need to be prepared for it's removal, it becomes a must get rid of for opponents, so expect it to be targeted immediately. So also a number of cards that can get it back from graveyard. Eternal Witness, Golgari Findbroker, Greenwarden of Murasa, Seasons Past.
Also might pay to run Heroic Intervention to avoid exiling targeted removal.
Right so as far as the creatures, there is a lot of different angles to go. But you can get a lot of value out of persist and undying creatures.
One really important aspect of a Birthing Pod deck is lining up your commander or commanders, so that you can get value from the Pod immediately, and know exactly what you can get.
So for example, say you pick Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper as your commander. You know that you can sacrifice it to get a 6 converted mana cost creature.
With this in mind you could go for Greenwarden of Murasa, immediately getting back Sek'Kuar from your graveyard (you put him in graveyard, rather than command zone).
Then you know that next turn you can sacrifice the Greenwarden of Murasa to get a 7 converted cost creature, maybe Protean Hulk or Rune-Scarred Demon or Sheoldred, Whispering One or whatever.
What I'm trying to point out is that you can really line up very specific sequences with using your commanders converted mana cost.
Sequencing is like my specialty, so when I make a Birthing Pod deck, I'm planning out exactly which creature will be going into the next one. So rather than just picking "value" creatures, you really want to plan out your converted mana cost creatures, with the idea of going from A to B to C, etc.
You can probably tell that I love this sort of thing, so let me know what style of play you like, your budget, and anything else, and we can try and figure out some lines of creatures you might want to pull off. Birthing Pod is really one of the most fun cards to play in all of Magic.
Pass on Mindclaw Shaman. I have tried it, and it usually is disappointing. Expecially if there isn't a blue player at the table, which most of the time there is. But still is very hit or miss, and there are better cards at 5 cmc.
If you're running a creature base built around Birthing Pod, maybe consider running Hibernation's End too? It's slower than Pod, but some nice redundancy if you're running a more long term game plan.
If you're running a creature base built around Birthing Pod, maybe consider running Hibernation's End too? It's slower than Pod, but some nice redundancy if you're running a more long term game plan.
Well I do have a specialized Bant deck based around Birthing Pod. With blue I am able to make multiple copies of it Copy Artifact, Clever Impersonator, etc, to get a huge value train going in a turn.
Before we even get to the creatures, here are some tips.
Firstly there is getting the Birthing Pod, without it the rest is pointless. So you do need a number of tutors, what ever your budget can afford.
You will also need to be prepared for it's removal, it becomes a must get rid of for opponents, so expect it to be targeted immediately. So also a number of cards that can get it back from graveyard. Eternal Witness, Golgari Findbroker, Greenwarden of Murasa, Seasons Past.
Also might pay to run Heroic Intervention to avoid exiling targeted removal.
Right so as far as the creatures, there is a lot of different angles to go. But you can get a lot of value out of persist and undying creatures.
One really important aspect of a Birthing Pod deck is lining up your commander or commanders, so that you can get value from the Pod immediately, and know exactly what you can get.
So for example, say you pick Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper as your commander. You know that you can sacrifice it to get a 6 converted mana cost creature.
With this in mind you could go for Greenwarden of Murasa, immediately getting back Sek'Kuar from your graveyard (you put him in graveyard, rather than command zone).
Then you know that next turn you can sacrifice the Greenwarden of Murasa to get a 7 converted cost creature, maybe Protean Hulk or Rune-Scarred Demon or Sheoldred, Whispering One or whatever.
What I'm trying to point out is that you can really line up very specific sequences with using your commanders converted mana cost.
Sequencing is like my specialty, so when I make a Birthing Pod deck, I'm planning out exactly which creature will be going into the next one. So rather than just picking "value" creatures, you really want to plan out your converted mana cost creatures, with the idea of going from A to B to C, etc.
You can probably tell that I love this sort of thing, so let me know what style of play you like, your budget, and anything else, and we can try and figure out some lines of creatures you might want to pull off. Birthing Pod is really one of the most fun cards to play in all of Magic.
Looks like I found the correct person to ask for advice! I want to give special props to you for your infinite Saheeli list, as I've started tinkering around with her as well [double pun intended].
I suppose context is important here - I'm trying to build Gyrus, Waker of Corpses, and since he (she? it?) likes creatures in the graveyard, I decided to consider Pod as an engine to dump things into the yard while maintaining some amount of board presence. It's also a card that I've seen played on the other side of the table too often (used to play a lot of Modern) and thought that it had one of the coolest designs and lines of play.
Do you have a list to your Bant Pod list for reference? My major concern is getting too cute with value and not generating enough threats. That said, when I often build a new Commander deck it starts off pretty janky, and I trim it as I figure it out - I realize that the strict efficiency of Pod requires very specific choices sometimes, so I'd wanted some outside input before throwing together a list that falls flat on its face. I knew that I had to plan ahead with chain links, but I will admit that I hadn't thought about Podding the commander away as an "always-available" start to the chain. In terms of sequencing, what would you say is a good spread of mana costs for creatures?
Pass on Mindclaw Shaman. I have tried it, and it usually is disappointing. Expecially if there isn't a blue player at the table, which most of the time there is. But still is very hit or miss, and there are better cards at 5 cmc.
If you're running a creature base built around Birthing Pod, maybe consider running Hibernation's End too? It's slower than Pod, but some nice redundancy if you're running a more long term game plan.
This was my pet card several years ago, and I failed to do anything exciting with it. Maybe this will be it. Will definitely try to dig it up and see how it goes.
Thanks to all! I hope to have a list up sometime this week to keep the Pod going.
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Twitch: MTGJankmaster; lurking>streaming (but maybe one day when I get good at magic)
xMage: Jankmaster Commander - Now Playing WUBSen Triplets - "If you shake my hand, better count your fingersBUWRHomura, Human AscendantRRGBorborygmos EnragedGRURMelek, Izzet ParagonRU
Commander - Still Brewing BRGGyrus, Waker of CorpsesGRBURSaheeli, the GiftedRUWRJor Kadeen, the PrevailerRW
Looks like I found the correct person to ask for advice! I want to give special props to you for your infinite Saheeli list, as I've started tinkering around with her as well [double pun intended].
I suppose context is important here - I'm trying to build Gyrus, Waker of Corpses, and since he (she? it?) likes creatures in the graveyard, I decided to consider Pod as an engine to dump things into the yard while maintaining some amount of board presence. It's also a card that I've seen played on the other side of the table too often (used to play a lot of Modern) and thought that it had one of the coolest designs and lines of play.
Do you have a list to your Bant Pod list for reference? My major concern is getting too cute with value and not generating enough threats. That said, when I often build a new Commander deck it starts off pretty janky, and I trim it as I figure it out - I realize that the strict efficiency of Pod requires very specific choices sometimes, so I'd wanted some outside input before throwing together a list that falls flat on its face. I knew that I had to plan ahead with chain links, but I will admit that I hadn't thought about Podding the commander away as an "always-available" start to the chain. In terms of sequencing, what would you say is a good spread of mana costs for creatures?
Too be honest my Bant deck will have little context for you as it's a combo deck, that looks to lock people out with cards like Dovescape and Guile.
I haven't looked at Gyrus, Waker of Corpses as a build yet, but I'm happy to try and come up with some angles, as I will more than likely build the deck myself in some form at the same time.
For Gyrus, Waker of Corpses 'enter the battlefield' creatures are particularly important for his ability.
It's important to make sure that you have a way to get the Birthing Pod back in the face of removal, as honestly opponents are smart to know that it will take over a game if left unchecked.
Now I've already mentioned some creatures that can get cards back from graveyard Eternal Witness, Skullwinder, Golgari Findbroker, Greenwarden of Murasa.
I'm bringing these up again, because with Gyrus, Waker of Corpses ability to get back creatures, it's probably the best plan to get at least one of these creatures first with Birthing Pod activation. That way you'll have one at your disposal that you can use to potentially get back the Birthing Pod if removed with Gyrus, Waker of Corpses.
It will be important to also have some all purpose removal creatures, so that you have access to at least one at every converted-mana-cost, just in case.
I could easily see going from Golgari Findbroker/Solemn Simulacrum/World Shaper into say Phyrexian Delver to bring back the previous creature.
-OR- Sidisi, Undead Vizier as this allows you to get any card, and you could just search for Living Death if wanting to get massive value.
-OR- Puppeteer Clique if an opponent has a juicy creature for you to grab. The nice thing about it is that it has Persist, so you can Birthing Pod it twice for value.
-OR- Garna, the Bloodflame to return multiple creatures to hand. You can even plan for an attack that might get a few of your creatures killed, so can fallback on him to get them back. They don't come back into play, so keep this in mind.
-OR- Genesis is a reasonable option, as this can be Podded away if you feel like spending 2G a turn to get a creature back is OK?
-OR- Acidic Slime, Shriekmaw as removal.
Now there are plenty of 6 mana creatures you could curve into for the graveyard recursion theme; Mikaeus, the Unhallowed is the master at getting value, but it must be noted that your curve will stop here, as you're NOT looking to Birthing Pod Mikaeus himself, just your other minions.
-OR- Flayer of the Hatebound works with Gyrus, Waker of Corpses ability to deal damage as well, plus undying means that you get to Pod this and get it back.
-OR- Ulvenwald Hydra as just another land ramp, but synergies with Gyrus, Waker of Corpses as a reanimation target as it's power is 0 for the purpose of triggering.
-OR- Greenwarden of Murasa is perfect for getting a card back from graveyard, and it can be Podded away next turn for value as well.
-OR- Woodland Bellower is a way to start the train back at the 3 converted mana cost creatures.
-OR- Brutalizer Exarch for non-creature removal.
-OR- Bane of Progress to do mass removal of artifacts and enchantments. Now this would also remove the Birthing Pod, but you will be packing a number of graveyard retrieval cards, so this could be great catch all answer for run-away games.
-OR- Demon of Dark Schemes or Massacre Wurm for going wide creature strategies
-OR- Duplicant or Noxious Gearhulk for creature removal.
Right so if you're lucky enough to get into the 7 converted mana cost range, then I think these options are pretty reasonable. Rune-Scarred Demon
-OR- Sheoldred, Whispering One
-OR- Protean Hulk is the perfect way to start with a fresh set of Pod targets.
Alright so there are plenty of other creature at 7 mana and beyond, but it's important not to get too carried away. Terastodon and Woodfall Primus are pretty brutal.
So with any type of tool-box deck, having multiple cards that do similar things is quite important, because it's very possible that you've drawn one of the cards that you're hoping to sequence into. It's even more important that with Birthing Pod that you have similar at the same converted-mana-cost.
I feel I've done a pretty good job of giving you multiple options for doing similar things. Scroll Rack will be excellent at getting cards from your hand back into our library. Unfortunately Jund has limited options like this, I'm not sure what else there is?
It is possible that a few discard outlet can help with reanimation. If you've draw too many of your top end cards, they can end up never being cast. Greater Good, Survival of the Fittest and Fauna Shaman look to be the most powerful for this.
It's perfectly reasonable to run a number of cheap mana producing creatures, as you can sacrifice them to the Birthing Pod to get into the higher costing creatures. This way they can be less of a "dead draw" in the deck later on.
Like I'd play Deathrite Shaman, Birds of Paradise, Joraga Treespeaker over artifact mana for that reason.
I've already mentioned that copying Birthing Pod just feels great if you can pull it off, so I would run Mirage Mirror and Sculpting Steel. Sculpting Steel is also a pretty safe bet, as at it's worst you can probably copy a Sol Ring or whatever. Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient could possibly be a card you can use, but you'll need several creatures in play to get use, as you have to use the R at the time of activation, meaning you have to target two creatures before either resolves Birthing Pod a creature into play. But you could easily target Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient as a Pod target and just get him back with Phyrexian Delver.
I am not sure Flayer of the Hatebound triggers off Gyrus. Gyrus exiles the creature and creates a new token. Nothing is entering the battlefield from the graveyard.
I would not expect to get more than a couple activations off of pod (in my meta). Unless your playgroup is removal light, it should get removed quite quickly. It is a massive value engine and will not go unnoticed at a competent table. I would not build my entire creature base around abusing it when you are likely to have it removed. As long as you have a good creature curve, you should not be lacking targets, and will always get value.
Do not play too many high CMC silver bullets just to make a pod chain. They will get stuck in your hand if you pack too many.
Brutalizer Exarch and Rune-Scarred Demon are both high costed and can be had lower on the curve. Also Rune-Scarred Demon is a blue players toy if they hit any copy effects. At least Sidisi, Undead Vizier required a sacrifice to tutor, so no crazy clone chains can happen. Greenwarden of Murasa is also high on the curve even if it returns two cards. At 6 cmc you will likely want to affect the board a little more unless you are heavy on the mass removal.
I like Woodland Bellower at 6 for the toolbox and Inferno Titan for Haste with Gyrus (except it looks like you don't get double burn triggers). Protean Hulk will always do broken things, if you want to try it out.
I am not sure Flayer of the Hatebound triggers off Gyrus. Gyrus exiles the creature and creates a new token. Nothing is entering the battlefield from the graveyard.
Good point.
I would not expect to get more than a couple activations off of pod (in my meta). Unless your playgroup is removal light, it should get removed quite quickly. It is a massive value engine and will not go unnoticed at a competent table. I would not build my entire creature base around abusing it when you are likely to have it removed. As long as you have a good creature curve, you should not be lacking targets, and will always get value.
That is your meta for sure. I mean I did specifically clarify that you shouldn't reasonable expect it to remain without having a plan.
That's why Eternal Witness, Skullwinder, Golgari Findbroker, Greenwarden of Murasa should be one of the first ports of call, for the reason that you can get it back straight away.
But I've already built and played a deck a few times, and got the Birthing Pod rolling pretty nicely. But I play online a lot, so you get a very wide-spread set of decks you play against. I'm sure your meta would be at the ready, but it's not like people have the answer all the time, otherwise no game would be won with combing with any set of cards ever..
Do not play too many high CMC silver bullets just to make a pod chain. They will get stuck in your hand if you pack too many. Brutalizer Exarch and Rune-Scarred Demon are both high costed and can be had lower on the curve. Also Rune-Scarred Demon is a blue players toy if they hit any copy effects. At least Sidisi, Undead Vizier required a sacrifice to tutor, so no crazy clone chains can happen. Greenwarden of Murasa is also high on the curve even if it returns two cards. At 6 cmc you will likely want to affect the board a little more unless you are heavy on the mass removal.
I like Woodland Bellower at 6 for the toolbox and Inferno Titan for Haste with Gyrus (except it looks like you don't get double burn triggers). Protean Hulk will always do broken things, if you want to try it out.
I mean I personally play 2 x 7 cmc with Rune-Scarred Demon and Protean Hulk and actually you can find that you sometimes want to go higher. The thing is that you're not always starting at a low creature converted mana cost. It's not like Yisan where you go right through from 1 to 7. Often you'll just cast a creature at 5 cmc and then go for 6 cmc straight away.
The deck plays awesome btw DasNekros, I'll probably post in the deck list section in a few days. I have a few tech cards that I found, so I like to explain the deck interactions in primers I do so will fill you in on that stuff DasNekros when I post it if you're interested?
So this is what a Pod Pro looks like... Looks like this deck will take a while to learn and master... Challenge accepted!
The ramp suggestions are definitely on point, as is the recursion, not to mention the potential Pod chains are definitely doable. While I won't be able to test a list until next week (sadly), I will likely have a list drafted up by then. I fully expect to start my chains at 3 and work on up.
I am not sure Flayer of the Hatebound triggers off Gyrus. Gyrus exiles the creature and creates a new token. Nothing is entering the battlefield from the graveyard.
I would not expect to get more than a couple activations off of pod (in my meta). Unless your playgroup is removal light, it should get removed quite quickly. It is a massive value engine and will not go unnoticed at a competent table. I would not build my entire creature base around abusing it when you are likely to have it removed. As long as you have a good creature curve, you should not be lacking targets, and will always get value.
Do not play too many high CMC silver bullets just to make a pod chain. They will get stuck in your hand if you pack too many.
Brutalizer Exarch and Rune-Scarred Demon are both high costed and can be had lower on the curve. Also Rune-Scarred Demon is a blue players toy if they hit any copy effects. At least Sidisi, Undead Vizier required a sacrifice to tutor, so no crazy clone chains can happen. Greenwarden of Murasa is also high on the curve even if it returns two cards. At 6 cmc you will likely want to affect the board a little more unless you are heavy on the mass removal.
I like Woodland Bellower at 6 for the toolbox and Inferno Titan for Haste with Gyrus (except it looks like you don't get double burn triggers). Protean Hulk will always do broken things, if you want to try it out.
I am not *too* worried about the Pod being blown up, since the deck is mainly being built around Gyrus itself with the Pod being both a value engine as well as dropping bodies into the grave for the Hydra.
I definitely do want to try out Woodland Bellower to pull more creatures out of the deck for Gyrus to eat.
The deck plays awesome btw DasNekros, I'll probably post in the deck list section in a few days. I have a few tech cards that I found, so I like to explain the deck interactions in primers I do so will fill you in on that stuff DasNekros when I post it if you're interested?
I would very much be interested. I understand that the way we use Pod is different (looks like your list puts it to a much much higher emphasis), but some of your inclusions/chains/interactions might get my own brewing gears turning.
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Twitch: MTGJankmaster; lurking>streaming (but maybe one day when I get good at magic)
xMage: Jankmaster Commander - Now Playing WUBSen Triplets - "If you shake my hand, better count your fingersBUWRHomura, Human AscendantRRGBorborygmos EnragedGRURMelek, Izzet ParagonRU
Commander - Still Brewing BRGGyrus, Waker of CorpsesGRBURSaheeli, the GiftedRUWRJor Kadeen, the PrevailerRW
I'm not sure Ulvenwald Hydra works with Gyrus like you want. A */* means that it's always checking the P/T stats in all zones, so it shouldn't be a 0/0 in the graveyard.
I've been thinking of building a creature-based Jund with heavy use of Birthing Pod and generating value off creatures while dumping them in the grave to reanimate later and keep the value train going.
In general, what advice would you give for building Pod EDH? Whether if you've played it yourself, or have seen others play it.
What Jund-colored Enter/Leaves battlefield shenanigan creatures have you seen do work? So far, here's what I have going in:
xMage: Jankmaster
Commander - Now Playing
WUBSen Triplets - "If you shake my hand, better count your fingersBUW RHomura, Human AscendantR RGBorborygmos EnragedGR URMelek, Izzet ParagonRU
Commander - Still Brewing
BRGGyrus, Waker of CorpsesGRB URSaheeli, the GiftedRU WRJor Kadeen, the PrevailerRW
Reclamation sage
Wood Elves
Disciple of Bolas
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
Before we even get to the creatures, here are some tips.
Firstly there is getting the Birthing Pod, without it the rest is pointless. So you do need a number of tutors, what ever your budget can afford.
You will also need to be prepared for it's removal, it becomes a must get rid of for opponents, so expect it to be targeted immediately. So also a number of cards that can get it back from graveyard.
Eternal Witness, Golgari Findbroker, Greenwarden of Murasa, Seasons Past.
If it's exiled then that's it. That's why having copies is good, as well as being able to use multiple Birthing Pod's in a turn.
The copy effects I can think of in Jund are Sculpting Steel, Mirage Mirror, Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient, Mirrorworks, Prototype Portal, Cogwork Assembler.
Also might pay to run Heroic Intervention to avoid exiling targeted removal.
Right so as far as the creatures, there is a lot of different angles to go. But you can get a lot of value out of persist and undying creatures.
One really important aspect of a Birthing Pod deck is lining up your commander or commanders, so that you can get value from the Pod immediately, and know exactly what you can get.
So for example, say you pick Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper as your commander. You know that you can sacrifice it to get a 6 converted mana cost creature.
With this in mind you could go for Greenwarden of Murasa, immediately getting back Sek'Kuar from your graveyard (you put him in graveyard, rather than command zone).
Then you know that next turn you can sacrifice the Greenwarden of Murasa to get a 7 converted cost creature, maybe Protean Hulk or Rune-Scarred Demon or Sheoldred, Whispering One or whatever.
What I'm trying to point out is that you can really line up very specific sequences with using your commanders converted mana cost.
With this in mind, partner commanders can give you access to multiple converted mana costs.
Say for example you have Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper and Vial Smasher the Fierce.
You can use Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper to get a 6 converted mana creature, say Mikaeus, the Unhallowed.
Then you can use Vial Smasher the Fierce to get a 4 converted mana creature. But you can keep Mikaeus, the Unhallowed in play because you didn't need to sacrifice him due to having another commander at your disposal.
The undying will just give you a value train.
Sequencing is like my specialty, so when I make a Birthing Pod deck, I'm planning out exactly which creature will be going into the next one. So rather than just picking "value" creatures, you really want to plan out your converted mana cost creatures, with the idea of going from A to B to C, etc.
You can probably tell that I love this sort of thing, so let me know what style of play you like, your budget, and anything else, and we can try and figure out some lines of creatures you might want to pull off.
Birthing Pod is really one of the most fun cards to play in all of Magic.
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
+1 for Massacre Wurm
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
Looks like I found the correct person to ask for advice! I want to give special props to you for your infinite Saheeli list, as I've started tinkering around with her as well [double pun intended].
I suppose context is important here - I'm trying to build Gyrus, Waker of Corpses, and since he (she? it?) likes creatures in the graveyard, I decided to consider Pod as an engine to dump things into the yard while maintaining some amount of board presence. It's also a card that I've seen played on the other side of the table too often (used to play a lot of Modern) and thought that it had one of the coolest designs and lines of play.
Do you have a list to your Bant Pod list for reference? My major concern is getting too cute with value and not generating enough threats. That said, when I often build a new Commander deck it starts off pretty janky, and I trim it as I figure it out - I realize that the strict efficiency of Pod requires very specific choices sometimes, so I'd wanted some outside input before throwing together a list that falls flat on its face. I knew that I had to plan ahead with chain links, but I will admit that I hadn't thought about Podding the commander away as an "always-available" start to the chain. In terms of sequencing, what would you say is a good spread of mana costs for creatures?
Definitely forgot about Rec-Sage and Wood Elves. I like all of the suggestions.
This was my pet card several years ago, and I failed to do anything exciting with it. Maybe this will be it. Will definitely try to dig it up and see how it goes.
Thanks to all! I hope to have a list up sometime this week to keep the Pod going.
xMage: Jankmaster
Commander - Now Playing
WUBSen Triplets - "If you shake my hand, better count your fingersBUW RHomura, Human AscendantR RGBorborygmos EnragedGR URMelek, Izzet ParagonRU
Commander - Still Brewing
BRGGyrus, Waker of CorpsesGRB URSaheeli, the GiftedRU WRJor Kadeen, the PrevailerRW
Too be honest my Bant deck will have little context for you as it's a combo deck, that looks to lock people out with cards like Dovescape and Guile.
I haven't looked at Gyrus, Waker of Corpses as a build yet, but I'm happy to try and come up with some angles, as I will more than likely build the deck myself in some form at the same time.
For Gyrus, Waker of Corpses 'enter the battlefield' creatures are particularly important for his ability.
It's important to make sure that you have a way to get the Birthing Pod back in the face of removal, as honestly opponents are smart to know that it will take over a game if left unchecked.
Now I've already mentioned some creatures that can get cards back from graveyard Eternal Witness, Skullwinder, Golgari Findbroker, Greenwarden of Murasa.
I'm bringing these up again, because with Gyrus, Waker of Corpses ability to get back creatures, it's probably the best plan to get at least one of these creatures first with Birthing Pod activation. That way you'll have one at your disposal that you can use to potentially get back the Birthing Pod if removed with Gyrus, Waker of Corpses.
The next sort of safe options are the mana enablers, as these are staples for builds that look to curve x mana; Sakura-Tribe Elder,Farhaven Elf, Wood Elves, Yavimaya Dryad, Elvish Rejuvenator, Solemn Simulacrum, World Shaper.
So it's probably pretty reasonable that an early play with a Birthing Pod (unless really pushed for removal on an opponents permanent) would be a 3 mana creature like (Farhaven Elf, Wood Elves, Yavimaya Dryad, Elvish Rejuvenator) into Solemn Simulacrum or World Shaper.
World Shaper obviously would be a much later game choice if you've gotten some lands into your graveyard.
*more on getting cards into graveyard later.
You've already mentioned reanimation targets, and so here are some creatures that reanimate; Phyrexian Delver, Chainer, Dementia Master, Meren of Clan Nel Toth, Balthor the Defiled, Garna, the Bloodflame, Genesis, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Demon of Dark Schemes, Soul of Innistrad, Sheoldred, Whispering One.
It will be important to also have some all purpose removal creatures, so that you have access to at least one at every converted-mana-cost, just in case.
I could easily see going from Golgari Findbroker/Solemn Simulacrum/World Shaper into say Phyrexian Delver to bring back the previous creature.
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Sidisi, Undead Vizier as this allows you to get any card, and you could just search for Living Death if wanting to get massive value.
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Puppeteer Clique if an opponent has a juicy creature for you to grab. The nice thing about it is that it has Persist, so you can Birthing Pod it twice for value.
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Garna, the Bloodflame to return multiple creatures to hand. You can even plan for an attack that might get a few of your creatures killed, so can fallback on him to get them back. They don't come back into play, so keep this in mind.
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Genesis is a reasonable option, as this can be Podded away if you feel like spending 2G a turn to get a creature back is OK?
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Acidic Slime, Shriekmaw as removal.
Now there are plenty of 6 mana creatures you could curve into for the graveyard recursion theme;
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed is the master at getting value, but it must be noted that your curve will stop here, as you're NOT looking to Birthing Pod Mikaeus himself, just your other minions.
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Flayer of the Hatebound works with Gyrus, Waker of Corpses ability to deal damage as well, plus undying means that you get to Pod this and get it back.
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Ulvenwald Hydra as just another land ramp, but synergies with Gyrus, Waker of Corpses as a reanimation target as it's power is 0 for the purpose of triggering.
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Greenwarden of Murasa is perfect for getting a card back from graveyard, and it can be Podded away next turn for value as well.
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Woodland Bellower is a way to start the train back at the 3 converted mana cost creatures.
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Brutalizer Exarch for non-creature removal.
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Bane of Progress to do mass removal of artifacts and enchantments. Now this would also remove the Birthing Pod, but you will be packing a number of graveyard retrieval cards, so this could be great catch all answer for run-away games.
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Demon of Dark Schemes or Massacre Wurm for going wide creature strategies
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Duplicant or Noxious Gearhulk for creature removal.
Right so if you're lucky enough to get into the 7 converted mana cost range, then I think these options are pretty reasonable.
Rune-Scarred Demon
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Sheoldred, Whispering One
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Protean Hulk is the perfect way to start with a fresh set of Pod targets.
Alright so there are plenty of other creature at 7 mana and beyond, but it's important not to get too carried away. Terastodon and Woodfall Primus are pretty brutal.
Now if you wanted to get a bit more spikey with your setups you could look for combo wins as well. Things like setting up Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Zealous Conscripts.
You could go Murderous Redcap into Zealous Conscripts, then untap the Birthing Pod with the Conscripts and sac the persisted Murderous Redcap to get Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. Bam instant win!
A favorite of mine is Avenger of Zendikar and Regal Force. You could Birthing Pod into Phytotitan sacrificing it into Avenger of Zendikar, and then it'll come back into play next turn and you can then sacrifice Phytotitan again for Regal Force. You could pack Craterhoof Behemoth as your 8 drop to Pod into.
So with any type of tool-box deck, having multiple cards that do similar things is quite important, because it's very possible that you've drawn one of the cards that you're hoping to sequence into. It's even more important that with Birthing Pod that you have similar at the same converted-mana-cost.
I feel I've done a pretty good job of giving you multiple options for doing similar things.
Scroll Rack will be excellent at getting cards from your hand back into our library. Unfortunately Jund has limited options like this, I'm not sure what else there is?
It is possible that a few discard outlet can help with reanimation. If you've draw too many of your top end cards, they can end up never being cast.
Greater Good, Survival of the Fittest and Fauna Shaman look to be the most powerful for this.
Another way of fueling your graveyard for Gyrus, Waker of Corpses is dredging. Life from the Loam, Golgari Grave-Troll, Stinkweed Imp are ways to do this.
Other creatures I'd definitely run are; Reclamation Sage, Yisan, the Wanderer Bard, Imperial Recruiter, Disciple of Bolas, Bramble Sovereign, Corpse Connoisseur.
It's perfectly reasonable to run a number of cheap mana producing creatures, as you can sacrifice them to the Birthing Pod to get into the higher costing creatures. This way they can be less of a "dead draw" in the deck later on.
Like I'd play Deathrite Shaman, Birds of Paradise, Joraga Treespeaker over artifact mana for that reason.
I've already mentioned that copying Birthing Pod just feels great if you can pull it off, so I would run Mirage Mirror and Sculpting Steel. Sculpting Steel is also a pretty safe bet, as at it's worst you can probably copy a Sol Ring or whatever.
Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient could possibly be a card you can use, but you'll need several creatures in play to get use, as you have to use the R at the time of activation, meaning you have to target two creatures before either resolves Birthing Pod a creature into play. But you could easily target Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient as a Pod target and just get him back with Phyrexian Delver.
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 am not sure Flayer of the Hatebound triggers off Gyrus. Gyrus exiles the creature and creates a new token. Nothing is entering the battlefield from the graveyard.
I would not expect to get more than a couple activations off of pod (in my meta). Unless your playgroup is removal light, it should get removed quite quickly. It is a massive value engine and will not go unnoticed at a competent table. I would not build my entire creature base around abusing it when you are likely to have it removed. As long as you have a good creature curve, you should not be lacking targets, and will always get value.
Do not play too many high CMC silver bullets just to make a pod chain. They will get stuck in your hand if you pack too many.
Brutalizer Exarch and Rune-Scarred Demon are both high costed and can be had lower on the curve. Also Rune-Scarred Demon is a blue players toy if they hit any copy effects. At least Sidisi, Undead Vizier required a sacrifice to tutor, so no crazy clone chains can happen. Greenwarden of Murasa is also high on the curve even if it returns two cards. At 6 cmc you will likely want to affect the board a little more unless you are heavy on the mass removal.
I like Woodland Bellower at 6 for the toolbox and Inferno Titan for Haste with Gyrus (except it looks like you don't get double burn triggers). Protean Hulk will always do broken things, if you want to try it out.
That is your meta for sure. I mean I did specifically clarify that you shouldn't reasonable expect it to remain without having a plan.
That's why Eternal Witness, Skullwinder, Golgari Findbroker, Greenwarden of Murasa should be one of the first ports of call, for the reason that you can get it back straight away.
But I've already built and played a deck a few times, and got the Birthing Pod rolling pretty nicely. But I play online a lot, so you get a very wide-spread set of decks you play against. I'm sure your meta would be at the ready, but it's not like people have the answer all the time, otherwise no game would be won with combing with any set of cards ever..
I mean I personally play 2 x 7 cmc with Rune-Scarred Demon and Protean Hulk and actually you can find that you sometimes want to go higher. The thing is that you're not always starting at a low creature converted mana cost. It's not like Yisan where you go right through from 1 to 7. Often you'll just cast a creature at 5 cmc and then go for 6 cmc straight away.
The deck plays awesome btw DasNekros, I'll probably post in the deck list section in a few days. I have a few tech cards that I found, so I like to explain the deck interactions in primers I do so will fill you in on that stuff DasNekros when I post it if you're interested?
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
So this is what a Pod Pro looks like... Looks like this deck will take a while to learn and master... Challenge accepted!
The ramp suggestions are definitely on point, as is the recursion, not to mention the potential Pod chains are definitely doable. While I won't be able to test a list until next week (sadly), I will likely have a list drafted up by then. I fully expect to start my chains at 3 and work on up.
I am not *too* worried about the Pod being blown up, since the deck is mainly being built around Gyrus itself with the Pod being both a value engine as well as dropping bodies into the grave for the Hydra.
I definitely do want to try out Woodland Bellower to pull more creatures out of the deck for Gyrus to eat.
I would very much be interested. I understand that the way we use Pod is different (looks like your list puts it to a much much higher emphasis), but some of your inclusions/chains/interactions might get my own brewing gears turning.
xMage: Jankmaster
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