This still feels a little fractured because I haven't played it at all and I think there's some internal tension here. The deck isn't really focused on either a more tapout style, which the high CMC walkers are pushing, or a more traditional draw-go list. I like the number of mana sources, given that it's curving out to 8 and there's a benefit to being able to play and flip the general in a single turn cycle, whether that's to get an immediate walker activation or to play around removal more effectively. I also think there should probably be another couple X-cost spells to take advantage of it, probably a draw spell like Stroke of Genius or Pull from Tomorrow and maybe a burn spell. Reanimation spells are possible cuts to fit those because they're largely relying on opponents. I don't have a lot of targets here.
Fast mana, tutors, Cyclonic Rift, Exsanguinate, and Torment of Hailfire are all intentional omissions. I know they're good cards, my group has chosen to omit those because we all got tired of seeing the same things every game. Combo is also relatively rare, so I'm not too worried about passing on the cheap/free counters.
Considering you basically have a walker as a general and it's a new card that looks fun, throw Flux Channeler in here? You're not superfriends, and don't have a lot of other counters matter effects, but it seems like it'd be good more often than it would be a dead card, and you have enough draw to cycle through it if it is.
I keep waffling on that one. There are clearly enough noncreature spells to trigger it reliably and a 3/2 for 3 CMC is a fine rate. The thing holding me back on it is the high cost of the walkers and limited other counter interactions. If I'm mostly including it to support various flavors of Bolas that's a lot of mana to cast/flip the walker and then cast a spell, plus there's a pretty good chance I'll have burned a large part of spells in hand before they come down. I do really like the As Foretold interaction and I overlooked Primal Amulet before, which are both reasons to revisit. There's also a chance this skews more towards superfriends when WAR drops and I want to play with new cards so it might be a better fit then. Thanks for taking a look!
I'm still waiting on a couple cards to come in (including the general), so I'll probably pull this together over the weekend and try it out next week sometime. There are a few slots I'm a little iffy on right off the bat, so I'm hoping I get to see how those work out. The most suspect is Ancestral Vision. That's a really rough late game topdeck and it's very slow when played as intended. I have a few ways to cheat the wait already and I'll include Finale of Promise when WAR drops, which should help. It may still be too cute. The other borderline stuff is mostly things like the Kenrith twins and the reanimation, where I like the cards for the format but may not have enough support for them in place in this particular deck.
edit: I realized I forgot Toxic Deluge in the first draft, which was an oversight. Replacing Animate Dead so I can keep the appropriate balance of overly cute interactions to actual cards.
The list in the OP is obviously not exactly what I was running, but it's pretty similar. I'll probably retool it into something a little more proactive by removing the cute high CMC stuff and going a little harder on a reanimation plan. I got my ridiculous high CMC bomb game, now those are just going to annoy me when they get stuck in hand. The game last night worked out because one player was also doing something fairly durdle-y and controlling while the third player kind of got stuck between two decks that were just trying to draw into removal, which is not going to be the norm. That's even more true once my group gets tired of playing around with the new walkers and goes back to more aggressive decks. I was really happy with Bolas's discard ETB, especially because the table has an incentive to remove it when you're sitting on enough to transform. The fact that it's also an evasive beater was more helpful than I was expecting, because it forced removal to protect walkers/life totals over time and I didn't get caught paying 7 to have it removed in response. It honestly played a lot better than I was expecting it to.
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[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
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1 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
//Creature
1 Archaeomancer
1 Baleful Strix
1 Kess, Dissident Mage
1 Ophiomancer
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 The Scarab God
1 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Wrexial, the Risen Deep
1 Young Pyromancer
//Artifact
1 Coalition Relic
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Dimir Signet
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Izzet Signet
1 Mind Stone
1 Primal Amulet
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Thaumatic Compass
1 Thought Vessel
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Worn Powerstone
//Enchantment
1 As Foretold
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Necromancy
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Sunbird's Invocation
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Rowan Kenrith
1 Will Kenrith
//Instant
1 Bedevil
1 Chaos Warp
1 Counterspell
1 Cryptic Command
1 Dig Through Time
1 Disallow
1 Electrodominance
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Frantic Search
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Impulse
1 Mission Briefing
1 Mystic Confluence
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Snuff Out
1 Terminate
//Sorcery
1 Ancestral Vision
1 Baral's Expertise
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Damnation
1 Discovery // Dispersal
1 Painful Truths
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Reanimate
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Vandalblast
1 Badlands
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Command Tower
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Graven Cairns
6 Island
5 Mountain
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Strip Mine
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Sunken Ruins
6 Swamp
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Wasteland
1 Watery Grave
This still feels a little fractured because I haven't played it at all and I think there's some internal tension here. The deck isn't really focused on either a more tapout style, which the high CMC walkers are pushing, or a more traditional draw-go list. I like the number of mana sources, given that it's curving out to 8 and there's a benefit to being able to play and flip the general in a single turn cycle, whether that's to get an immediate walker activation or to play around removal more effectively. I also think there should probably be another couple X-cost spells to take advantage of it, probably a draw spell like Stroke of Genius or Pull from Tomorrow and maybe a burn spell. Reanimation spells are possible cuts to fit those because they're largely relying on opponents. I don't have a lot of targets here.
Fast mana, tutors, Cyclonic Rift, Exsanguinate, and Torment of Hailfire are all intentional omissions. I know they're good cards, my group has chosen to omit those because we all got tired of seeing the same things every game. Combo is also relatively rare, so I'm not too worried about passing on the cheap/free counters.
Ooo, also proliferate is kind of nice with As Foretold, Coalition Relic and Primal Amulet.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
I'm still waiting on a couple cards to come in (including the general), so I'll probably pull this together over the weekend and try it out next week sometime. There are a few slots I'm a little iffy on right off the bat, so I'm hoping I get to see how those work out. The most suspect is Ancestral Vision. That's a really rough late game topdeck and it's very slow when played as intended. I have a few ways to cheat the wait already and I'll include Finale of Promise when WAR drops, which should help. It may still be too cute. The other borderline stuff is mostly things like the Kenrith twins and the reanimation, where I like the cards for the format but may not have enough support for them in place in this particular deck.
edit: I realized I forgot Toxic Deluge in the first draft, which was an oversight. Replacing Animate Dead so I can keep the appropriate balance of overly cute interactions to actual cards.
The list in the OP is obviously not exactly what I was running, but it's pretty similar. I'll probably retool it into something a little more proactive by removing the cute high CMC stuff and going a little harder on a reanimation plan. I got my ridiculous high CMC bomb game, now those are just going to annoy me when they get stuck in hand. The game last night worked out because one player was also doing something fairly durdle-y and controlling while the third player kind of got stuck between two decks that were just trying to draw into removal, which is not going to be the norm. That's even more true once my group gets tired of playing around with the new walkers and goes back to more aggressive decks. I was really happy with Bolas's discard ETB, especially because the table has an incentive to remove it when you're sitting on enough to transform. The fact that it's also an evasive beater was more helpful than I was expecting, because it forced removal to protect walkers/life totals over time and I didn't get caught paying 7 to have it removed in response. It honestly played a lot better than I was expecting it to.