Woodfall primus is better than slime depending how far off yor curve you want to get. Downfall of oracle is everyone sees what your up to and can plan for it but if your not feeling Azusa its a good replacement. I'd still run crucible though.
Woodfall primus is better than slime depending how far off yor curve you want to get. Downfall of oracle is everyone sees what your up to and can plan for it but if your not feeling Azusa its a good replacement. I'd still run crucible though.
I've also been thinking about Woodfall Primus. I'm not sure how far up the curve I want to go, and how that is affected by the deck's ability to cast from the yard. Acidic Slime, Indrik Stomphowler, and Woodfall Primus are all good options. I could see running up to two of the three as Donald suggested, but I think it'll require some testing to find the best three for this deck (though I'm not sure you can really go wrong here).
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Amazing Avy & Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios [4/22/11]
Honestly, onlainari, you keeping me honest to the deck and myself is much appreciated. I may not like it, but it only serves to improve my thought process and decision making, and therefore benefiting the deck.
I think you will do well in life
An interesting thought I just had. An hypothetical Jarad deck might benefit by incorporating the amazing Skullclamp and X/1 creatures that keep coming back package. There are about seven black X/1 creatures from memory that come back pretty easily. If a deck was designed to mill itself a lot, this is a very powerful engine. You'll just want to play Restock, Yawgmoth's Will, and other cards to make sure skullclamp keeps coming back.
Woodfall primus is better than slime depending how far off yor curve you want to get. Downfall of oracle is everyone sees what your up to and can plan for it but if your not feeling Azusa its a good replacement. I'd still run crucible though.
I agree with woodfall primus being better than acidic slime, but it would be a stretch to not run either, ditto terastodon. You really have to be pushing a theme and/or specific synergies to not consider running all of these cards.
I eventually got over my irrational love of Oracle of Mul Daya and cut her from all my decks. At no point does she help you move towards winning the game. Any advantage is countered by more hate than you can defend against. I challenge someone, next time they cast Oracle, to record how awesome it was. I would bet on no matter how many lands she provided, you would have won anyway without her, or ended up losing anyway. Happy to hear others thoughts on this.
Saying that, Azusa is generally worse than Oracle, and I would never consider her for a deck like this. I prefer Budoka Gardener to get lands out of hand because it's relevant late game. It's a better walking atlas.
Last but definitely not least, you have to have a good reason to not play Crucible of Worlds ;).
Only reason I like Azusa is with when your returning 3 lands to your hand you can put them into play or when you mill utility lands before you hit your basics you can (with crucible) het you sac, recure, and mass mana lands on the field. In a more competitive format I find her the best. Then again my karador deck runs a bit dif. Keeping tabernacle on the board and using cradle to handle my army. It depends on play styles but I think there are def a few cards that can be cut to make room for things.
As an example your running 15 basics out of 37 lands. Draw your starting hand and maybe hit 2. Now turn three elder so turn 4 you get 2 more basics (=4 if you haven't drawn or fetched another) now you have 11 of your 88 cards left being basics. Hermit/dredging will def bury some you need.
Personally I like to make it so only I have the say on what lands I have in play. Even if Azusa isn't for you that's why crucible is a must.
Oracle of Mul Daya produces card advantage. Saying she doesn't get you closer to victory is saying drawing cards doesn't get you closer to victory. Of course it does, just not in the most direct manner.
Oracle doesn't belong in every single deck that has green in it, but it has some pretty powerful abilities. Revealing your top card can be useful, the extra land drop and the ability to take both of them from the top of the library are all quite powerful. She doesn't require you to have land in your hand or crucible in play to produce land ramp and dig through your deck while she'd at it.
The last time I cast Oracle of Mul Daya I won the next turn, and would not have been able to do so without casting her, getting the land ramp and manipulating the top card of my library. She basically pushed my gameplan ahead 2 turns which was too difficult to overcome for my opponents.
Even if Azusa isn't for you that's why crucible is a must.
Resounding support for the CoW!
Now I just need to make some room...
As for land accel, it looks like Azusa, Oracle, and Budoka Gardener all have someone's vote.
I like Azusa because she works great with Crucible of Worlds, I like Oracle because she pulls the land out of the deck (or at least right off the top) and works great with Top, and Budoka certainly intersts me (it's flip ability can be a 1-shot kill with Jarad).
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Amazing Avy & Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios [4/22/11]
Oracle of Mul Daya works with everything Azusa does (though obviously not as well) while also pulling lands from the top of your library. My vote goes to the Oracle.
Oracle of Mul Daya works with everything Azusa does (though obviously not as well) while also pulling lands from the top of your library. My vote goes to the Oracle.
How do you feel the value of Oracle is negatively impacted, if at all, by revealing your next draw(s) to your opponents?
Also, has it become a forgone conclusion that a mana accelerator is 100% necessary? (FYI: I actually really like the idea of the mana acceleration on a creature, but I'd love to hear discussion from both POVs)
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Amazing Avy & Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios [4/22/11]
How do you feel the value of Oracle is negatively impacted, if at all, by revealing your next draw(s) to your opponents?
Also, has it become a forgone conclusion that a mana accelerator is 100% necessary? (FYI: I actually really like the idea of the mana acceleration on a creature, but I'd love to hear discussion from both POVs)
Is revealing your next draw a downside with Future Sight? Everyone who has abused the card would say no. Oracle works in a similar way.
Is revealing your next draw a downside with Future Sight? Everyone who has abused the card would say no. Oracle works in a similar way.
I would argue that because Future Sight allows you to play any card off the top, revealing the top card of your library is similar to revealing a card from your hand and saying "I'm about to play this."
Whereas Oracle is more like revealing a card from your hand and saying "I'm about to play this... next turn," because it allows people to prepare and set-up ways to stop what your doing.
I'm not actually sure this is a big deal, but I did want to clarify the difference.
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Amazing Avy & Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios [4/22/11]
I would argue that because Future Sight allows you to play any card off the top, revealing the top card of your library is similar to revealing a card from your hand and saying "I'm about to play this."
Whereas Oracle is more like revealing a card from your hand and saying "I'm about to play this... next turn," because it allows people to prepare and set-up ways to stop what your doing.
I'm not actually sure this is a big deal, but I did want to clarify the difference.
Much of the time you're not chain casting off the top of your deck with Future Sight either. In fact, they are both "here's what I'm drawing next turn" most of the time. Of course Sight has the potential to be better though.
The best between the three removal spells depends on your meta. Pure theory land I stick with Beast Within because it handles all permanent types. You may even be able to cut all three, depends on whether you need instant speed removal or not. I like Acidic Slime the most as a replacement because it's reasonably costed. Woodfall Primus and Terastodon fill slightly different roles, they're still removal but they give you a bonus for the extra mana.
Don't worry about the exile drawback on Necropotence too much. The only time it's rough is when you get hit by mass discard. Otherwise you're exiling the worst card(s) in your hand. It's really a pretty minor drawback for such a broken card.
How mana intensive is this deck? Most decks can use some ramp but they don't all need a bunch of ramp. If you're just looking to add in one land ramper I think it's between Exploration and Oracle of Mul Daya. Normally Exploration wins easily but you have a lot of creature synergy in here which may make Oracle the better choice. Azusa needs more support to be the best option and the Gardner is merely decent. I'd probably start with Oracle of Mul Daya and see how it plays out. If you're never tutoring for her and don't get a lot of value when she's in play I'd just forget about that slot and try something else.
Much of the time you're not chain casting off the top of your deck with Future Sight either. In fact, they are both "here's what I'm drawing next turn" most of the time. Of course Sight has the potential to be better though.
True. Well, I've heard both very positive and very negative things about Oracle of Mul Daya here, I'm not sure what exactly to get out of all the suggestions. Nor am I sure how it will really compare to Azusa in testing. I guess that's really the only thing I can do is test.
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Amazing Avy & Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios [4/22/11]
Well i'm actually on my computer for once so hopefully this goes a little smoother.
If it were me some changes i'd make are
Out Sakur-Tribe Elder-turn 2 its good after that will you need it late game? Filth-Just think there are better cards as i said before. Vulturous Zombie-if your milling yourself i think you can find better cards for the deck. Grave Titan- I don't think the etb effect is strong enough to run him. Tokens can't be clamped and i think there are better fits for a higher CC creature. Bitter Blossom- I just think there are better cards for your theme, is good with Skullclamp though. Phyrexian Arena-Your playing out of your grave yard as well as your hand do you really need this draw engine? Perilous Forays-Idk as if you need this sac outlet and its 5cc to hit the board, by then you won't need too many more basics. Green Sun's Zenith-You can put what you really want in your yard you don't need this. Putrefy&Krosan Grip-Can be replaced with etb creature effects as noted earlier. Garruk Relentless-Plainswalkers usually die before they do anything to impressive but flipped he does have very good synergy with this deck. Swamp-If i'm playing a heave creature deck i like to play Homeward Path.
That's what i've been thinking off the top of my head obviously it'd be a lot of changes but if ya like one or two cool if not that's cool too lol. I think it keeps a little more to your theme.
The best between the three removal spells depends on your meta. Pure theory land I stick with Beast Within because it handles all permanent types. You may even be able to cut all three, depends on whether you need instant speed removal or not. I like Acidic Slime the most as a replacement because it's reasonably costed. Woodfall Primus and Terastodon fill slightly different roles, they're still removal but they give you a bonus for the extra mana.
Don't worry about the exile drawback on Necropotence too much. The only time it's rough is when you get hit by mass discard. Otherwise you're exiling the worst card(s) in your hand. It's really a pretty minor drawback for such a broken card.
Okay, that makes sense. So, is it a straight swap for Phyrexian Arena then?
How mana intensive is this deck? Most decks can use some ramp but they don't all need a bunch of ramp. If you're just looking to add in one land ramper I think it's between Exploration and Oracle of Mul Daya. Normally Exploration wins easily but you have a lot of creature synergy in here which may make Oracle the better choice. Azusa needs more support to be the best option and the Gardner is merely decent. I'd probably start with Oracle of Mul Daya and see how it plays out. If you're never tutoring for her and don't get a lot of value when she's in play I'd just forget about that slot and try something else.
Depending on how the dredging is going, it can become mana heavy. However, it usually isn't too intensive.
I guess I will start testing with Oracle of Mul Daya and see how it goes.
So, I'm looking to add in Acidic Slime, Oracle of Mul Daya, and Necropotence. The cuts are looking like Krosan Grip, Phyrexian Arena, and probably Perilous Forays.
Well i'm actually on my computer for once so hopefully this goes a little smoother.
If it were me some changes i'd make are
Out Sakur-Tribe Elder-turn 2 its good after that will you need it late game? Filth-Just think there are better cards as i said before. Vulturous Zombie-if your milling yourself i think you can find better cards for the deck. Grave Titan- I don't think the etb effect is strong enough to run him. Tokens can't be clamped and i think there are better fits for a higher CC creature. Bitter Blossom- I just think there are better cards for your theme, is good with Skullclamp though. Phyrexian Arena-Your playing out of your grave yard as well as your hand do you really need this draw engine? Perilous Forays-Idk as if you need this sac outlet and its 5cc to hit the board, by then you won't need too many more basics. Green Sun's Zenith-You can put what you really want in your yard you don't need this. Putrefy&Krosan Grip-Can be replaced with etb creature effects as noted earlier. Garruk Relentless-Plainswalkers usually die before they do anything to impressive but flipped he does have very good synergy with this deck. Swamp-If i'm playing a heave creature deck i like to play Homeward Path.
That's what i've been thinking off the top of my head obviously it'd be a lot of changes but if ya like one or two cool if not that's cool too lol. I think it keeps a little more to your theme.
First off, thank you for taking the time to go through all of these and even noting things. Secondly, I really do like some of your suggestions.
+1 Acidic Slime
+1 Oracle of Mul Daya
+1 Necropotence
+1 Crucible of Worlds
Some thoughts on the rest...
In Green Sun's Zenith: this only gets better with the inclusion of the utility creatures. Grave Titan: his ability is actually relevant, and many times his tokens make use of Altar of Dementia when needed. Garruk Relentless: this is all about deck synergy, and actually people haven't been too scared of him (I have yet to have him killed by anyone but me, lol). Filth: once you win a game on his back, it's hard to cut him. Sakura-Tribe Elder: any creature that pulls lands out of the deck AND puts itself in the yard for you is "in" in my book. Bitterblossom: if it weren't for Skullclamp, I'd probably have this on the outside. The two together are just so stupid good.
Out Avenger of Zendikar: we have 0 one drops, so it doesn't help Birthing Pod. Momentus Fall: I've had this guy backfire on me too many times, lol. In this deck, that's not as bad, but I'd rather just run Necropotence for the card draw. Creeping Renaissance: wary of how good this card is or could be in a deck that tries to keep its yard full.
Creeping would get you your artifacts or enchantments you lost or dredged and can be played with flashback.
I think my worry is getting a whole slew of them back that I can't play, having to discard most, and it ends up being a Regrowth for 5CC. Probably irrational worry though, lol.
Phyrexian Arena is a pretty solid card. Maybe cut Maelstrom Pulse instead if tokens aren't too much of an issue? I missed it on my initial look through.
Living Death feels too powerful not to run. It has great synergy with what your deck is trying to do and at least in the early game it can act as another Damnation.
Just brainstorming on 1 drops but Sylvan Safekeeper, Viscera Seer and Thoughtpicker Witch are all viable options. Safekeeper is great if your guys are getting killed by spot removal too often and the others give you a redundant sac outlet.
Necropotence back fires too much for me. Ever been mindslavered or had your hand ripped out with it out? It sucks and I hate waiting till the eot to get my cards.
Necropotence back fires too much for me. Ever been mindslavered or had your hand ripped out with it out? It sucks and I hate waiting till the eot to get my cards.
Sure but the flip side is have you ever paid 3 mana to draw 20 cards? That happens with Necro all the time. If your hand gets ripped out aren't you happy that Necro is in play so you can quickly recover? Sure is sucks you exiled some stuff but at least you can quickly get a full grip.
Phyrexian Arena is a pretty solid card. Maybe cut Maelstrom Pulse instead if tokens aren't too much of an issue? I missed it on my initial look through.
Living Death feels too powerful not to run. It has great synergy with what your deck is trying to do and at least in the early game it can act as another Damnation.
Just brainstorming on 1 drops but Sylvan Safekeeper, Viscera Seer and Thoughtpicker Witch are all viable options. Safekeeper is great if your guys are getting killed by spot removal too often and the others give you a redundant sac outlet.
Oh I LOVE Sylvan Safekeeper! Protecting Jarad can be a task by itself, and Safekeeper even puts cards into the yard for us. Thoughtpicker Witch is also very intriguing. It would actually be nice to have some one drops for Pod too.
Avenger of Zendikar also happens to work considerably better with Crucible of Worlds too. However, it is worth noting that cutting Grave Titan leaves us with only a single six-drop for Pod.
2nd EDIT:
Because we're already doing so much with our life total here, it often seems that we're really low, and because we need to fit Grave Pact in...
-1 Savra, Queen of the Golgari
+1 Grave Pact
Thoughts? (I'm not a fan of cutting creatures for non-creatures in this creature-based deck, but this one seems to make sense)
Haha, true enough bud. None of the three are a bad choice, I found all were very good most of the time.
Are there any other missing cards you saw or questionable choices to discuss?
I've also been thinking about Woodfall Primus. I'm not sure how far up the curve I want to go, and how that is affected by the deck's ability to cast from the yard. Acidic Slime, Indrik Stomphowler, and Woodfall Primus are all good options. I could see running up to two of the three as Donald suggested, but I think it'll require some testing to find the best three for this deck (though I'm not sure you can really go wrong here).
I think you will do well in life
An interesting thought I just had. An hypothetical Jarad deck might benefit by incorporating the amazing Skullclamp and X/1 creatures that keep coming back package. There are about seven black X/1 creatures from memory that come back pretty easily. If a deck was designed to mill itself a lot, this is a very powerful engine. You'll just want to play Restock, Yawgmoth's Will, and other cards to make sure skullclamp keeps coming back.
I agree with woodfall primus being better than acidic slime, but it would be a stretch to not run either, ditto terastodon. You really have to be pushing a theme and/or specific synergies to not consider running all of these cards.
I eventually got over my irrational love of Oracle of Mul Daya and cut her from all my decks. At no point does she help you move towards winning the game. Any advantage is countered by more hate than you can defend against. I challenge someone, next time they cast Oracle, to record how awesome it was. I would bet on no matter how many lands she provided, you would have won anyway without her, or ended up losing anyway. Happy to hear others thoughts on this.
Saying that, Azusa is generally worse than Oracle, and I would never consider her for a deck like this. I prefer Budoka Gardener to get lands out of hand because it's relevant late game. It's a better walking atlas.
Last but definitely not least, you have to have a good reason to not play Crucible of Worlds ;).
Only reason I like Azusa is with when your returning 3 lands to your hand you can put them into play or when you mill utility lands before you hit your basics you can (with crucible) het you sac, recure, and mass mana lands on the field. In a more competitive format I find her the best. Then again my karador deck runs a bit dif. Keeping tabernacle on the board and using cradle to handle my army. It depends on play styles but I think there are def a few cards that can be cut to make room for things.
As an example your running 15 basics out of 37 lands. Draw your starting hand and maybe hit 2. Now turn three elder so turn 4 you get 2 more basics (=4 if you haven't drawn or fetched another) now you have 11 of your 88 cards left being basics. Hermit/dredging will def bury some you need.
Personally I like to make it so only I have the say on what lands I have in play. Even if Azusa isn't for you that's why crucible is a must.
Oracle doesn't belong in every single deck that has green in it, but it has some pretty powerful abilities. Revealing your top card can be useful, the extra land drop and the ability to take both of them from the top of the library are all quite powerful. She doesn't require you to have land in your hand or crucible in play to produce land ramp and dig through your deck while she'd at it.
The last time I cast Oracle of Mul Daya I won the next turn, and would not have been able to do so without casting her, getting the land ramp and manipulating the top card of my library. She basically pushed my gameplan ahead 2 turns which was too difficult to overcome for my opponents.
But that's my deck, which doesn't run Life from the loam or Crucible of Worlds, which could make Azusa soooo silly.
Depends on the game state, but usually on myself.
Well, there's plenty of Crucible support.
What would you recommend cutting? I know others have suggested cutting Perilous Forays.
Resounding support for the CoW!
Now I just need to make some room...
As for land accel, it looks like Azusa, Oracle, and Budoka Gardener all have someone's vote.
I like Azusa because she works great with Crucible of Worlds, I like Oracle because she pulls the land out of the deck (or at least right off the top) and works great with Top, and Budoka certainly intersts me (it's flip ability can be a 1-shot kill with Jarad).
Experimental Kraj
How do you feel the value of Oracle is negatively impacted, if at all, by revealing your next draw(s) to your opponents?
Also, has it become a forgone conclusion that a mana accelerator is 100% necessary? (FYI: I actually really like the idea of the mana acceleration on a creature, but I'd love to hear discussion from both POVs)
Is revealing your next draw a downside with Future Sight? Everyone who has abused the card would say no. Oracle works in a similar way.
I would argue that because Future Sight allows you to play any card off the top, revealing the top card of your library is similar to revealing a card from your hand and saying "I'm about to play this."
Whereas Oracle is more like revealing a card from your hand and saying "I'm about to play this... next turn," because it allows people to prepare and set-up ways to stop what your doing.
I'm not actually sure this is a big deal, but I did want to clarify the difference.
Much of the time you're not chain casting off the top of your deck with Future Sight either. In fact, they are both "here's what I'm drawing next turn" most of the time. Of course Sight has the potential to be better though.
Don't worry about the exile drawback on Necropotence too much. The only time it's rough is when you get hit by mass discard. Otherwise you're exiling the worst card(s) in your hand. It's really a pretty minor drawback for such a broken card.
How mana intensive is this deck? Most decks can use some ramp but they don't all need a bunch of ramp. If you're just looking to add in one land ramper I think it's between Exploration and Oracle of Mul Daya. Normally Exploration wins easily but you have a lot of creature synergy in here which may make Oracle the better choice. Azusa needs more support to be the best option and the Gardner is merely decent. I'd probably start with Oracle of Mul Daya and see how it plays out. If you're never tutoring for her and don't get a lot of value when she's in play I'd just forget about that slot and try something else.
True. Well, I've heard both very positive and very negative things about Oracle of Mul Daya here, I'm not sure what exactly to get out of all the suggestions. Nor am I sure how it will really compare to Azusa in testing. I guess that's really the only thing I can do is test.
If it were me some changes i'd make are
Out
Sakur-Tribe Elder-turn 2 its good after that will you need it late game?
Filth-Just think there are better cards as i said before.
Vulturous Zombie-if your milling yourself i think you can find better cards for the deck.
Grave Titan- I don't think the etb effect is strong enough to run him. Tokens can't be clamped and i think there are better fits for a higher CC creature.
Bitter Blossom- I just think there are better cards for your theme, is good with Skullclamp though.
Phyrexian Arena-Your playing out of your grave yard as well as your hand do you really need this draw engine?
Perilous Forays-Idk as if you need this sac outlet and its 5cc to hit the board, by then you won't need too many more basics.
Green Sun's Zenith-You can put what you really want in your yard you don't need this.
Putrefy&Krosan Grip-Can be replaced with etb creature effects as noted earlier.
Garruk Relentless-Plainswalkers usually die before they do anything to impressive but flipped he does have very good synergy with this deck.
Swamp-If i'm playing a heave creature deck i like to play Homeward Path.
IN?-with a couple new suggestions
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Living death
1 Grave Pact
1 Asusa, Lost but seeking
1 Lurking Preaditors
1 Avenger of Zendikar (helps fill your pod chain)
1 Creeping Renaissance
1 Momentous Fall
1 Scroll Rack
1 Glissa, the traitor
That's what i've been thinking off the top of my head obviously it'd be a lot of changes but if ya like one or two cool if not that's cool too lol. I think it keeps a little more to your theme.
What do you think about Indrik Stomphowler here?
Okay, that makes sense. So, is it a straight swap for Phyrexian Arena then?
Depending on how the dredging is going, it can become mana heavy. However, it usually isn't too intensive.
I guess I will start testing with Oracle of Mul Daya and see how it goes.
So, I'm looking to add in Acidic Slime, Oracle of Mul Daya, and Necropotence. The cuts are looking like Krosan Grip, Phyrexian Arena, and probably Perilous Forays.
Thoughts?
First off, thank you for taking the time to go through all of these and even noting things. Secondly, I really do like some of your suggestions.
How about, for starters...
-1 Vulturous Zombie
-1 Perilous Forays
-1 Phyrexian Arena
-1 Krosan Grip
+1 Acidic Slime
+1 Oracle of Mul Daya
+1 Necropotence
+1 Crucible of Worlds
Some thoughts on the rest...
In
Green Sun's Zenith: this only gets better with the inclusion of the utility creatures.
Grave Titan: his ability is actually relevant, and many times his tokens make use of Altar of Dementia when needed.
Garruk Relentless: this is all about deck synergy, and actually people haven't been too scared of him (I have yet to have him killed by anyone but me, lol).
Filth: once you win a game on his back, it's hard to cut him.
Sakura-Tribe Elder: any creature that pulls lands out of the deck AND puts itself in the yard for you is "in" in my book.
Bitterblossom: if it weren't for Skullclamp, I'd probably have this on the outside. The two together are just so stupid good.
Out
Avenger of Zendikar: we have 0 one drops, so it doesn't help Birthing Pod.
Momentus Fall: I've had this guy backfire on me too many times, lol. In this deck, that's not as bad, but I'd rather just run Necropotence for the card draw.
Creeping Renaissance: wary of how good this card is or could be in a deck that tries to keep its yard full.
Want to Find a Spot for
Living Death
Grave Pact
Woodfall Primus
Creeping would get you your artifacts or enchantments you lost or dredged and can be played with flashback.
Lol read your statement about momentous fall then tell me about hatred.
But yeah that's about all I thought of can't wait to see what else releases in the new set!
That's true, I was being to linear in my thinking of Avenger. Do you see it as a strict upgrade over Grave Titan?
I think my worry is getting a whole slew of them back that I can't play, having to discard most, and it ends up being a Regrowth for 5CC. Probably irrational worry though, lol.
The difference? If Hatred lands, I win. If Momentus Fall lands, I draw some cards.
Yeah, that's the only downside to building this now, a whole lot might change with RtR (that's also REALLY exciting!).
Phyrexian Arena is a pretty solid card. Maybe cut Maelstrom Pulse instead if tokens aren't too much of an issue? I missed it on my initial look through.
Living Death feels too powerful not to run. It has great synergy with what your deck is trying to do and at least in the early game it can act as another Damnation.
Just brainstorming on 1 drops but Sylvan Safekeeper, Viscera Seer and Thoughtpicker Witch are all viable options. Safekeeper is great if your guys are getting killed by spot removal too often and the others give you a redundant sac outlet.
Necropotence back fires too much for me. Ever been mindslavered or had your hand ripped out with it out? It sucks and I hate waiting till the eot to get my cards.
Sure but the flip side is have you ever paid 3 mana to draw 20 cards? That happens with Necro all the time. If your hand gets ripped out aren't you happy that Necro is in play so you can quickly recover? Sure is sucks you exiled some stuff but at least you can quickly get a full grip.
Oh wow, nice find Donald! It's perfect for the theme. I'll pick one up and begin testing.
Maelstrom Pulse is essential in my meta.
Agreed. What do we move for it though?
Oh I LOVE Sylvan Safekeeper! Protecting Jarad can be a task by itself, and Safekeeper even puts cards into the yard for us. Thoughtpicker Witch is also very intriguing. It would actually be nice to have some one drops for Pod too.
EDIT:
Avenger of Zendikar also happens to work considerably better with Crucible of Worlds too. However, it is worth noting that cutting Grave Titan leaves us with only a single six-drop for Pod.
2nd EDIT:
Because we're already doing so much with our life total here, it often seems that we're really low, and because we need to fit Grave Pact in...
-1 Savra, Queen of the Golgari
+1 Grave Pact
Thoughts? (I'm not a fan of cutting creatures for non-creatures in this creature-based deck, but this one seems to make sense)
Duplicant
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
Wurmcoil Engine
Experimental Kraj