The idea behind this deck is to go with Quality over Quantity. A lot of G/W decks do Quantity well, but if I really wanted to do that I should have Rhys the Redeemed in the chair. After all, Trostani makes one copy of one Creature. Instead, I have Creatures and Effects that turn my Creatures into tokens so I may copy them. The majority of the tokens produced by this deck are superior to the base printed stuff.
Her other ability, the ability to gain life, normally is pooh-pooh'd in multiplayer. I've weaponized life gain in the deck with its usage in Sylvan Library, Felidar Soverign, Phyrexian Processor and Aetherflux Reservoir. At the very least, it allows me to aggressively attack and only fear Crackbacks from Voltron Commanders.
Budoka Gardener ramps us, triggering out various Landfall abilities and then can pump out large X/X tokens for Trostani to copy. Cryptolith Rite got cut because I very rarely had creatures sitting around to be tapped. If I can more "Put X 1/1s into play" then it would probably be amazing ramp, but I didn't find it to be the case.
Authority I just threw in because I had a spare copy. Authority didn't do anything for us besides slow down our opponents to enable our plays. I stumbled across Séance and was skeptical, as I am removing a permanent resource but I had nothing to worry about. This certainly enables our plays! Putting creatures into play during any players' turn is helpful, Populating them or just generally messing with who knows what will be coming into play at any time.
Terastodon is just a bit too high curve for this deck and Aura Shards effectively replaced its purpose. I might not be able to blow up Lands or Planeswalkers with Aura Shards, but my guys can probably get through to circumvent the Lands and punch the Planeswalkers in the face.
Spawnwrite was supposed to be a cheap drop that starts scoring me more and more tokens but its Ogre body got blocked and halted my opponents. Perhaps if I ran more Anthems I would have a better time, but I decided to go with a creature at the same cost to keep the cheap casting cost that makes a token. This way I have a Golem to copy or if the Blade Splicer ever ends up as a token, I can double the bodies hitting play.
Sun Titan is great, no doubt; however, most of my 6+ drops make tokens for Trostani to abuse. Sun Titan was ignoring this design decision, which is something I can forgive Avacyn, Angel of Hope for. Titan, not so much. The War-Pride makes tokens of itself and a lot of them. Plenty of targets to Populate, give me a lot of life and forcing creatures to Block is especially annoying for my opponent. They also get stupid with Cathars' Crusade.
Wave of Vitriol hits too much of my stuff, I got a lot of Artifacts and Enchantments I like with Nonbasic Lands to boot too. The idea of coming ahead from all of the cards made me decide to cut this in favour of Elemental Bond. It draws me cards, so over time it can generate as much if not more card advantage than Wave.
Sunscorch Regent is a fun card, but not something that really helps my strategy. Advent of the Wurm makes an Instant Speed Trampling token. So, it gives me Reach, something unexpected and is a Populate target right out of the gate. This deck tends to hold back a little bit of mana, so it is easy to have this sit in my hand until the time is right.
I cut two Forests because the mana distribution is fairly even, but also to make sure my Plains count doesn't dip too low for Emeria, the Sky Ruin to trigger. Arctic Flats is the original reason why I put Into the North in the deck, as it is superior to any basic I could fetch with most of my 2 drop mana ramp spells. Gargoyle Castle is just to make a token readily available for Trostani to abuse.
Mirrorpool. Again, make a token of any creature you control.
Also, your mana curve is too damn high! Maybe add some more ramp spells or mana dorks for that sweet mana fixing. If you're intent on using Trostani as your main ways of populating maybe add in cards that untap Trostani or double her ability.
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Most of the cards that are above $5 in the deck are something I already own. Otherwise, I dislike spending too much money on cardboard. I have this weird thing where it's OK to spend $40 on fifteen cards but not OK to spend it on one. Though it might not be a bad habit because the expensive cards are more likely to retain value, but I'm here to play a game not the stock market.
Sound logic; and I follow it myself. But for what you want in the deck, Blade of Selves and Parallel Lives are not that high an investment. I'm sure you can get both of them on tcgplayer for probably $10 between the two of them. As for Doubling Season, when the hell did it spike from $40-something to $60-something??? What gives???? (Maybe Atraxa, Praetors' Voice has something to do with it.) It better be reprinted in Modern Masters 3...
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Karametra is ramp which is what the deck sorely needs.
I just played against an Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim and I was pretty impressed with Angelic Accord. It's something I should consider, the problem is to cut what for what.
I just switched one of my decks from Ephara, God of the Polis to Brago, King Eternal. Quite a few cards didn't survive the build change and are now orphans. Looking at that deck, I was trying to figure out what to cut from this one to include:
The Spear might be the weakest pick, but it's a way to have my creatures begin generating tokens. Brimaz also generates tokens and provides early defense, but I acknowledge he might be a weak pick. Elspeth and Ascension are both amazing, the question is to cut what for them. And then after that I've got this Angelic Accord riddle.
Not sure what to do here besides play and feel out what feels weak.
You could also include one or two Wastes that could easily be searched up by any number of various Rampant Growth effects that you already have.
As for cuts, I'd always start at the top of your curve and work your way down. For example, while the myriad trigger is probably fun, I don't think that Caller of the Pack is good enough for its cost. Same with Phyrexian Rebirth and Giant Adephage. Another card that kinda sticks out is Wayfaring Temple. It has no means of evasion, so how likely is it to actually populate something, and is all that work worth the result? My guess is probably not.
I think you're right. I ran the Average CMC on this deck and it was really bad, like 4 point something. Well, that's the problem with Magic - once you get good you can't play with bad cards.
The question I have now is to try to find some more Land or Artifact Ramp. Normally, if you're playing Green the Land Ramp would be obvious; however, I'm finding a lot of Ramp is looking to add Forests into play. When did Green get this selfish? So right now I'm considering some combination of Ranger's Path, Frontier Siege or Skyshroud Claim against Selesnya Signet, Talisman of Unity or other mana rocks.
As much as I like the idea of running colorless lands for Mirrorpool, I'm finding that I need Green mana early game for all the Ramp spells and then Plains late game for Emeria, the Sky Ruin.
I don't think that you need any of the 4cc ramp spells. You already have all of the good 2cc spells, plus Kodama's Reach and Cultivate...that should be plenty. Also, you're a green deck...you don't need to waste slots on artifact mana.
After getting more games in, I realized I didn't frequently want to or have time to use colorless mana from my ramp/utility lands. So, Mirrorpool goes in to make more copies of my creatures. I put in the Ghost Quarter for utility but also give colorless. I happened to have a random Snow-Covered Forest so I changed it up, just so I can stress less about Snow Lands.
Heliod costs less than Wingmate Roc; however, it costs a lot to activate and use Heliod. Furthermore, the 3/4 Flier is a better token than 2/1. The Roc also gives me life when it swings, feeding into Aetherflux Reservoir and Felidar Sovereign wincons or just let me trade blows.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion gives me a Wrath, the Ult advances my board a lot and she makes tokens to block. Luminarch Ascension with Constant Mists makes me able to put lots of counters on it. Eventually, I could get my army of Angels going which is one of the most efficient mana-to-power with Flight. I cut the Caller because sometimes I wouldn't be able to get a token, which isn't worth paying 7 mana for. I cut the Wayfaring Temple because it's hard for it to hit.
Wanting to cut high costs but also provide Ramp, I traded Sword of the Animist for Martial Coup. Martial Coup's effective CMC is 7, enough to Wrath while the Sword ramps me.
I'm not sure if getting rid of the Vitu-Ghazi is the correct call here, it is an early drop that poops out tokens. The other cut I was thinking of was Wall of Blossoms but I went against it due to ETB card draw. It's not that impactful but overall is nice: stops early aggression, replaces itself and is a half decent Mimic Vat or Seance target. Rhys goes in because it's broken stupid busted, in theory; we'll see if lives long enough to practice.
I love Giant Adephage so it hurt me to make this cut. Avenger of Zendikar is just too good to keep at the 7 as well as Avacyn, Angel of Hope at 8, so the double up bug got the axe. Seedborn Muse should be sufficiently insane in this deck, with Trostani popping off Populates at every opportunity. Other creatures might also have tap abilities too. Plus the lands that have special abilities will kick in sooner, whether it's making a token with Gargoyle Castle or fetching me lands with Myriad Landscape.
Between my Wraths, I cut the Phyrexian Rebirth. It didn't quite feel right, as the amount of times a large X/X that I populate cleans up afterwards. Yet we have Hour of Reckoning, which Convokes for early plays and keeps my main theme protected as I get rid of the board. The other is Planar Cleansing which is a deep clean that every deck could want. I don't want to cut Fumigate because it's an early Wrath that life gain I could put to work, such as Felidar Sovereign or Aetherflux Reservoir. In fact, the Call of Chording is to possibly fetch a Felidar EOT to win out of nowhere. Call Convokes as well, which is great for what I'm trying to do.
Echo Chamber lets my opponents choose, which will probably be their crappiest creature or if they're smart an OK Legend that I wouldn't want to abuse with Populate. It was in my theoretical draft when I started making the deck in my mind but it was too clunky when I'm already having some issues in hostile metagames of playing Trostani, a token and having time to Populate it.
Trostani operates somewhat like a Control deck, so I added in Kor Haven as a protection suite. Stop their big scary thing from connecting, it's important. I didn't want to cut a Plains as I already feel slightly light on White mana, so I needed to cut a colorless provider. I did consider cutting a Plains for more Mirrorpool love, but I rather risk being unable to use Mirrorpool vs mana inconsistency. With that in mind I had to determine which was my worse colorless land and Vitu-Ghazi has been underwhelming. 'Five mana' for a 1/1 isn't efficiency, especially since I introduced Gargoyle Castle which nets me a 3/4 Flyer in a vacuum.
Thanks for the Wurmcalling suggestion but I'm looking for more controlly cards. Also, I rather not tap out when I can make a lot of different options.
Right now, I am not too happy with Second Harvest and Growing Ranks. I would like ways to make tokens more reliably. These two rely on me already having tokens and while Harvest can be a blow out, I've found it is a win-more.
Another problem I have is Flying Commanders dealing 21 damage. I'm thinking of adding more Fliers or Reach token generators to stop this, as what happened yesterday was that I took 21 Commander when I was sitting in the mid 100s. Though to be fair, I decided to not win out of nowhere with a Chord of CallingFelidar Sovereign as I was enjoying the game at the time. Should've just ended the game right there if I wanted to win.
Blade of Selves rounds out the last reasonable way to put a token into play of a nontoken creature that I could then populate. It replaces Second Harvest, which has constantly felt like a win-more but also was a dead card the amount of times I just didn't have tokens in play. Since the whole point of the deck is putting tokens into play, Blade of Selves solves that problem.
Khalni Heart Expedition has been hit or miss enough times that I moved towards a more reliable card. Angelic Accord is another Enchantment but it makes tokens, which suits the deck's style. It is surprising easy to just keep putting more Angels into play, which then just trigger the Accord. Overall, a card that most Trostani players should consider to play test.
Thragtusk is the dream with a Blade of Selves. Otherwise, solid creature that feeds into the two strategies of the deck: lifegain and tokens. Hour of Reckoning never did exactly what I wanted and a lot of the time I didn't even want to cast it - worse still is when I wanted to but lacked any creatures to Convoke it down.
Growing Ranks is the final 'win more' card in the deck. Card draw has been a problem, hopefully Greater Good will resolve that. Most of the tokens in the deck are at least going to give me card parity for selection. Once I get the bigger ones then it'll be flat card advantage. Either way, I think it's a solid gas pedal.
With the amount of land type specificity, I felt like the Groves are OK coming into play tapped because I'm going to have another thing bring them into play. Karametra didn't really fit the strategy of the deck, she was just something nice to have. Unfortunately, a great many times I had her out I was too busy putting tokens into play instead of casting creatures for her to trigger off of. With that in mind, the Priest can gain me life feeding into my Felidar Sovereign or Aetheflux Reservoir and turns itself into a token that can be copied that will feed off of itself.
I did pull an Honored Hydra at the Prerelease and did give it consideration to add to the deck; however, it failed my 'win the game' test. Essentially, when I evaluate a card that costs 6 or more, I ask myself if it could win the game if left unchecked. In comparison to my other six drops, the Hydra is a little lacklustre and so I passed on adding it to the deck. The only other creature I may consider would be Angel of Sanctions, having a repeated O-Ring on a stick might not be bad.
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This is my most casual 'competitive' deck and I kind of want to keep it that way. I feel like Rhys would mean I would need to make changes that would make the deck more competitive, but I already have my 'good decks' and my 'bad decks'. This one is perfectly balanced in the middle.
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Though I am probably going to head down to the LGS today or in a few days for more Commander, buy a few things to upgrade my decks and Trostani is the one asking for an upgrade this time around.
I'd cut Anointer Priest for Anointed Procession. You're already gaining life from Trostani. Getting more tokens is more useful than getting 1 life from a token entering the battlefield.
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The first thing is the changing on the Lands. I use the Storage Land in my very Casual Progentius deck and was pretty impressed. With Trostani wanting colored mana for herself with the multiple WW, GG, WWW, GGG and Trostani's WWGG but also colorless for Mirrorpool, I added the G/W Storage Land to the deck. With the Green Predominance, I decided to cut a Plains this time. For the mana acceleration, I'm not too fond of Harrow and Hart because they cost too much mana for the land ramp they do. Hence Farhaven Elf for generic land grab and Awakening Zone to give Trostani something to Populate, generate blockers or just generic mana acceleration.
Priest got the cut, even if I think it could be a good time to fuel my Felidar Sovereign or Aetherflux Reservoir. Kirby makes an excellent point, plus extra tokens is something nice to include. I just don't hope it's not the gateway drug into spending lots of money on other doublers.
I've been on the fence lately about Séance but it did some serious work today. I only have 24 creatures in the deck, there's not that much I could copy, even if it's part of the whole theme of 'turn nontokens into tokens to copy them'. Before today, it was a possible Chopping Block item - now, I'm not sure. Another card I'm not too pleased with is Armada Wurm, sure it's 10 power and life for 6 mana, but each of the bodies aren't that impressive. I've been thinking of replacing it with Giant Adephage. Yes, Adephage doesn't come with a Token but it's something that can quickly spiral out of control, especially with Rhys the Redeemed doubling it, as well as the newly added Procession and Nykthos, Shrine of Nyx wouldn't mind that massive mana amounts.
As this is my most casual 'competitive' deck or my most competitive 'casual' deck, I'm not sure what I should be doing here.
Her other ability, the ability to gain life, normally is pooh-pooh'd in multiplayer. I've weaponized life gain in the deck with its usage in Sylvan Library, Felidar Soverign, Phyrexian Processor and Aetherflux Reservoir. At the very least, it allows me to aggressively attack and only fear Crackbacks from Voltron Commanders.
4 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
Creatures - 24
1 Rhys the Redeemed
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Eternal Witness
3 Farhaven Elf
3 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3 Ramunap Excavator
3 Resplendent Angel
3 Tireless Tracker
3 Wood Elves
5 Acidic Slime
5 Angel of Sanctions
5 Archangel of Thune
5 Crested Sunmare
5 Herald of the Host
5 Seedborn Muse
5 Tendershoot Dryad
5 Titania, Protector of Argoth
5 Thragtusk
5 Wingmate Roc
6 Felidar Sovereign
6 Sun Titan
8 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Enchantments - 7
1 Land Tax
2 Luminarch Ascension
2 Sylvan Library
3 Aura Shards
4 Anointed Procession
4 Parallel Lives
8 Sandwurm Convergence
4 Huatli, Radiant Champion
5 Nissa, Vital Force
6 Ajani Unyielding
6 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Artifacts - 8
1 Sol Ring
1 Skullclamp
2 Blade of Selves
2 Sword of the Animist
3 Mimic Vat
4 Aetherflux Reservoir
4 Phyrexian Processor
4 Helm of the Host
Sorceries - 9
2 Farseek
2 Gaea's Blessing
2 Into the North
2 Nature's Lore
2 Rampant Growth
4 Pir's Whim
5 Rout
6 Hour of Revelation
6 Seasons Past
Instants - 9
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Constant Mists
2 Heroic Intervention
2 Sundering Growth
3 Beast Within
3 Chord of Calling
3 Krosan Grip
4 Crush Contraband
5 Sylvan Reclamation
8 Forest
4 Plains
3 Snow-Covered Forest
3 Snow-Covered Plains
Nonbasic Lands - 20
0 Arch of Orazca
0 Arctic Flats
0 Blighted Woodland
0 Buried Ruin
0 Canopy Vista
0 Dust Bowl
0 Gargoyle Castle
0 Gavony Township
0 Glacial Chasm
0 Grove of the Guardian
0 Kor Haven
0 Krosan Verge
0 Mirrorpool
0 Mistveil Plains
0 Myriad Landscape
0 Scattered Groves
0 Scavenger Grounds
0 Terrain Generator
0 Temple Garden
0 Windswept Heath
1 Crush Contraband
1 Return to Dust
1 Land Tax
1 Sylvan Ranger
1 Resplendent Angel
1 Angelic Accord
1 Seasons Past
1 Garruk's Packleader
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Command Tower
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Pir's Whim
1 Shamanic Revelation
1 Helm of the Host
1 God-Pharaoh's Gift
1 Nissa, Vital Force
1 Mouth // Feed
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Titania, Protector of Argoth
1 Sun Titan
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Terrain Generator
1 Dust Bowl
1 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Intangible Virtue
1 Awakening Zone
1 Nacatl War-Pride
1 Rootborn Defenses
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Fortified Village
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Sungrass Prairie
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Windbrisk Heights
1 Huatli, Radiant Champion
1 Elemental Bond
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Plains
1 Gaea's Blessing
1 Budoka Gardener
1 Arch of Orazca
1 Tendershoot Dryad
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Blade Splicer
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Giant Adephage
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Forest
1 Burgeoning
1 Saltcrusted Steppe
1 God-Pharaoh's Gift
1 Séance
1 Rout
1 Fumigate
1 Rootborn Defenses
1 Rishkar's Expertise
1 Sylvan Ranger
1 Kor Cartographer
1 Heroic Intervention
1 Hour of Promise
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Ezuri's Predation
1 Angel of Sanctions
1 Ramunap Excavator
1 Command Tower
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Buried Ruin
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Champion of Lambholt
1 Plains
2 Forest
1 Return to Dust
1 Sylvan Reclamation
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 Parallel Lives
1 Cathars' Crusade
1 Greater Good
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Eldrazi Monument
1 Temple Garden
1 Ajani Unyielding
1 Forest
1 Well of Lost Dreams
1 Beast Within
1 Advent of the Wurm
1 Hour of Promise
1 Hour of Revelation
1 Crested Sunmare
1 Tempt with Discovery
1 Planar Cleansing
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Sylvan Library
1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Burgeoning
1 Cultivate
1 Sandwurm Convergence
1 Rishkar's Expertise
1 True Conviction
1 Rishkar's Expertise
1 Mouth // Feed
1 Explosive Vegetation
1 Giant Adephage
1 Armada Wurm
1 Saltcrushed Steppe
1 Awakening Zone
1 Anointed Procession
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Plains
1 Harrow
1 Anointed Priest
1 Burnished Hart
1 Scattered Groves
1 Anointer Priest
1 Forest
1 Karametra, God of Harvests
1 Thragtusk
1 Greater Good
1 Hour of Reconking
1 Growing Ranks
1 Blade of Selves
1 Angelic Accord
1 Second Harvest
1 Khalni Heart Expedition
1 Kor Haven
1 Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree
2 Forests
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Plains
1 Rhys the Redeemed
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Chord of Calling
1 Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage
1 Giant Adephage
1 Phyrexian Rebirth
1 Wingmate Roc
1 Mirrorpool
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
1 Caller of the Pack
1 Wayfaring Temple
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Forest
1 Sword of the Animist
1 Martial Coup
1 Budoka Gardener
1 Séance
1 Aura Shards
1 Blade Splicer
1 Nacatl War-Pride
1 Elemental Bond
1 Advent of the Wurm
1 Arctic Flats
1 Gargoyle Castle
1 Cryptolith Rite
1 Authority of the Consuls
1 Terastodon
1 Spawnwrithe
1 Sun Titan
1 Wave of Vitriol
1 Sunscorch Regent
2 Forest
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Budoka Gardener
1 Séance
1 Aura Shards
1 Blade Splicer
1 Nacatl War-Pride
1 Elemental Bond
1 Advent of the Wurm
1 Arctic Flats
1 Gargoyle Castle
1 Cryptolith Rite
1 Authority of the Consuls
1 Terastodon
1 Spawnwrithe
1 Sun Titan
1 Wave of Vitriol
1 Sunscorch Regent
2 Forest
Authority I just threw in because I had a spare copy. Authority didn't do anything for us besides slow down our opponents to enable our plays. I stumbled across Séance and was skeptical, as I am removing a permanent resource but I had nothing to worry about. This certainly enables our plays! Putting creatures into play during any players' turn is helpful, Populating them or just generally messing with who knows what will be coming into play at any time.
Terastodon is just a bit too high curve for this deck and Aura Shards effectively replaced its purpose. I might not be able to blow up Lands or Planeswalkers with Aura Shards, but my guys can probably get through to circumvent the Lands and punch the Planeswalkers in the face.
Spawnwrite was supposed to be a cheap drop that starts scoring me more and more tokens but its Ogre body got blocked and halted my opponents. Perhaps if I ran more Anthems I would have a better time, but I decided to go with a creature at the same cost to keep the cheap casting cost that makes a token. This way I have a Golem to copy or if the Blade Splicer ever ends up as a token, I can double the bodies hitting play.
Sun Titan is great, no doubt; however, most of my 6+ drops make tokens for Trostani to abuse. Sun Titan was ignoring this design decision, which is something I can forgive Avacyn, Angel of Hope for. Titan, not so much. The War-Pride makes tokens of itself and a lot of them. Plenty of targets to Populate, give me a lot of life and forcing creatures to Block is especially annoying for my opponent. They also get stupid with Cathars' Crusade.
Wave of Vitriol hits too much of my stuff, I got a lot of Artifacts and Enchantments I like with Nonbasic Lands to boot too. The idea of coming ahead from all of the cards made me decide to cut this in favour of Elemental Bond. It draws me cards, so over time it can generate as much if not more card advantage than Wave.
Sunscorch Regent is a fun card, but not something that really helps my strategy. Advent of the Wurm makes an Instant Speed Trampling token. So, it gives me Reach, something unexpected and is a Populate target right out of the gate. This deck tends to hold back a little bit of mana, so it is easy to have this sit in my hand until the time is right.
I cut two Forests because the mana distribution is fairly even, but also to make sure my Plains count doesn't dip too low for Emeria, the Sky Ruin to trigger. Arctic Flats is the original reason why I put Into the North in the deck, as it is superior to any basic I could fetch with most of my 2 drop mana ramp spells. Gargoyle Castle is just to make a token readily available for Trostani to abuse.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
My YouTube Channel:
The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
As for why I do't include the other cards, it's really simple:
Most of the cards that are above $5 in the deck are something I already own. Otherwise, I dislike spending too much money on cardboard. I have this weird thing where it's OK to spend $40 on fifteen cards but not OK to spend it on one. Though it might not be a bad habit because the expensive cards are more likely to retain value, but I'm here to play a game not the stock market.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
My YouTube Channel:
The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
I just played against an Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim and I was pretty impressed with Angelic Accord. It's something I should consider, the problem is to cut what for what.
I just switched one of my decks from Ephara, God of the Polis to Brago, King Eternal. Quite a few cards didn't survive the build change and are now orphans. Looking at that deck, I was trying to figure out what to cut from this one to include:
Not sure what to do here besides play and feel out what feels weak.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
If you can't afford Doubling Season, maybe try its functional reprint Primal Vigor.
Luminarch Ascension seems like you're just asking for trouble by casting it.
Couple other colorless land ideas that might help you with Mirrorpool:
- Buried Ruin
- Ghost Quarter, Tectonic Edge, etc
- Kor Haven, or the cheaper variant Mystifying Maze
- Riftstone Portal
You could also include one or two Wastes that could easily be searched up by any number of various Rampant Growth effects that you already have.
As for cuts, I'd always start at the top of your curve and work your way down. For example, while the myriad trigger is probably fun, I don't think that Caller of the Pack is good enough for its cost. Same with Phyrexian Rebirth and Giant Adephage. Another card that kinda sticks out is Wayfaring Temple. It has no means of evasion, so how likely is it to actually populate something, and is all that work worth the result? My guess is probably not.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
The question I have now is to try to find some more Land or Artifact Ramp. Normally, if you're playing Green the Land Ramp would be obvious; however, I'm finding a lot of Ramp is looking to add Forests into play. When did Green get this selfish? So right now I'm considering some combination of Ranger's Path, Frontier Siege or Skyshroud Claim against Selesnya Signet, Talisman of Unity or other mana rocks.
As much as I like the idea of running colorless lands for Mirrorpool, I'm finding that I need Green mana early game for all the Ramp spells and then Plains late game for Emeria, the Sky Ruin.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
1 Wingmate Roc
1 Mirrorpool
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
1 Caller of the Pack
1 Wayfaring Temple
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Forest
Heliod costs less than Wingmate Roc; however, it costs a lot to activate and use Heliod. Furthermore, the 3/4 Flier is a better token than 2/1. The Roc also gives me life when it swings, feeding into Aetherflux Reservoir and Felidar Sovereign wincons or just let me trade blows.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion gives me a Wrath, the Ult advances my board a lot and she makes tokens to block. Luminarch Ascension with Constant Mists makes me able to put lots of counters on it. Eventually, I could get my army of Angels going which is one of the most efficient mana-to-power with Flight. I cut the Caller because sometimes I wouldn't be able to get a token, which isn't worth paying 7 mana for. I cut the Wayfaring Temple because it's hard for it to hit.
Wanting to cut high costs but also provide Ramp, I traded Sword of the Animist for Martial Coup. Martial Coup's effective CMC is 7, enough to Wrath while the Sword ramps me.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Rhys the Redeemed
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Chord of Calling
1 Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage
1 Giant Adephage
1 Phyrexian Rebirth
I love Giant Adephage so it hurt me to make this cut. Avenger of Zendikar is just too good to keep at the 7 as well as Avacyn, Angel of Hope at 8, so the double up bug got the axe. Seedborn Muse should be sufficiently insane in this deck, with Trostani popping off Populates at every opportunity. Other creatures might also have tap abilities too. Plus the lands that have special abilities will kick in sooner, whether it's making a token with Gargoyle Castle or fetching me lands with Myriad Landscape.
Between my Wraths, I cut the Phyrexian Rebirth. It didn't quite feel right, as the amount of times a large X/X that I populate cleans up afterwards. Yet we have Hour of Reckoning, which Convokes for early plays and keeps my main theme protected as I get rid of the board. The other is Planar Cleansing which is a deep clean that every deck could want. I don't want to cut Fumigate because it's an early Wrath that life gain I could put to work, such as Felidar Sovereign or Aetherflux Reservoir. In fact, the Call of Chording is to possibly fetch a Felidar EOT to win out of nowhere. Call Convokes as well, which is great for what I'm trying to do.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
I've made a single change to the deck:
1 Kor Haven
1 Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Cheers!
Krichaiushii on PucaTrade.
Right now, I am not too happy with Second Harvest and Growing Ranks. I would like ways to make tokens more reliably. These two rely on me already having tokens and while Harvest can be a blow out, I've found it is a win-more.
Another problem I have is Flying Commanders dealing 21 damage. I'm thinking of adding more Fliers or Reach token generators to stop this, as what happened yesterday was that I took 21 Commander when I was sitting in the mid 100s. Though to be fair, I decided to not win out of nowhere with a Chord of Calling Felidar Sovereign as I was enjoying the game at the time. Should've just ended the game right there if I wanted to win.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Blade of Selves
1 Angelic Accord
1 Second Harvest
1 Khalni Heart Expedition
Khalni Heart Expedition has been hit or miss enough times that I moved towards a more reliable card. Angelic Accord is another Enchantment but it makes tokens, which suits the deck's style. It is surprising easy to just keep putting more Angels into play, which then just trigger the Accord. Overall, a card that most Trostani players should consider to play test.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Thragtusk
1 Greater Good
1 Hour of Reckoning
1 Growing Ranks
Growing Ranks is the final 'win more' card in the deck. Card draw has been a problem, hopefully Greater Good will resolve that. Most of the tokens in the deck are at least going to give me card parity for selection. Once I get the bigger ones then it'll be flat card advantage. Either way, I think it's a solid gas pedal.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Scattered Groves
1 Anointer Priest
1 Forest
1 Karametra, God of Harvests
I did pull an Honored Hydra at the Prerelease and did give it consideration to add to the deck; however, it failed my 'win the game' test. Essentially, when I evaluate a card that costs 6 or more, I ask myself if it could win the game if left unchecked. In comparison to my other six drops, the Hydra is a little lacklustre and so I passed on adding it to the deck. The only other creature I may consider would be Angel of Sanctions, having a repeated O-Ring on a stick might not be bad.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary Primer UG
I concur. I have a token-based deck. Trostani is part of the 99 and Rhys is at the helm. Turn 1 commander is no joke.
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
My YouTube Channel:
The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
My YouTube Channel:
The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
Though I am probably going to head down to the LGS today or in a few days for more Commander, buy a few things to upgrade my decks and Trostani is the one asking for an upgrade this time around.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
My YouTube Channel:
The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
1 Saltcrushed Steppe
1 Awakening Zone
1 Anointed Procession
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Plains
1 Harrow
1 Anointed Priest
1 Burnished Hart
Priest got the cut, even if I think it could be a good time to fuel my Felidar Sovereign or Aetherflux Reservoir. Kirby makes an excellent point, plus extra tokens is something nice to include. I just don't hope it's not the gateway drug into spending lots of money on other doublers.
I've been on the fence lately about Séance but it did some serious work today. I only have 24 creatures in the deck, there's not that much I could copy, even if it's part of the whole theme of 'turn nontokens into tokens to copy them'. Before today, it was a possible Chopping Block item - now, I'm not sure. Another card I'm not too pleased with is Armada Wurm, sure it's 10 power and life for 6 mana, but each of the bodies aren't that impressive. I've been thinking of replacing it with Giant Adephage. Yes, Adephage doesn't come with a Token but it's something that can quickly spiral out of control, especially with Rhys the Redeemed doubling it, as well as the newly added Procession and Nykthos, Shrine of Nyx wouldn't mind that massive mana amounts.
As this is my most casual 'competitive' deck or my most competitive 'casual' deck, I'm not sure what I should be doing here.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs