This is intended to be a primer for people to draft convoke based decks in M15, which are hands down the best deck you can draft. Elvish Mystic is the best green common for a reason, and with convoke EVERY creature effectively is a mana bug for your convoke spells.
Convoke decks hinge on the following things:
1. A critical mass of convoke cards
2. Early creatures and tokens to ramp with
3. Some way to smack your opponent with your creatures
1. A critical mass of convoke cards
The best convoke decks will be GW, since that's where the best commons are. The thing about a convoke deck is that you want to play a creature on turn 2, 3, 4 etc. In a normal deck this is a 2-drop, a 3-drop, and a 4-drop. In a convoke deck, because you have already played a creature on turn 2, you can convoke a 4-drop on turn 3, then convoke a 6-drop on turn 4. 9 mana convoke cards typically only require 6 or even less land to cast. The convoke payoff, ranked from best to worst is: Triplicate Spirits4WW -> 3W for 3 1/1 flyers Living Totem3G -> 2G for effectively a 3/4 Siege Wurm5GG -> 4G for a 5/5 trampler Seraph of the Masses5WW -> 4W for approximately a 5/5 flyer Feral Incarnation8G -> 6 for 3 3/3s Will-Forged Golem6 -> 4 for a 4/4
Triplicate Spirits in particular is awesome sauce, since it acts as the convoke payoff, is an evasive win condition by itself, and also a token generator for further convoke shenannigans.
2. Early creatures and tokens to ramp with
There's not a lot of early convoke cards, while there's an abundance of things to do with your surplus mana. For this reason it's CRUCIAL to draft an early curve of dorks. I won't bother listing the two-drop creatures, but THEY ARE ALL PLAYABLE. Raise the Alarm in particular lets you get a bit silly with future convoke turns. One mana creatures would normally be unplayable without some exception ability, but it's not a mistake to include something like Soulmender in your deck, even without the lifegain. It combos with Raise the Alarm to give you a T3 Triplicate Spirits, which not many decks can come back from, barring a Festergloom.
3. Some way to smack your opponent with your creatures
Most of the core cards in the deck are 'just' dudes, and the opponent can easily outclass them. In addition, GW doesn't have the best removal spells either. The solution is global pump effects. I am a huge fan of Selfless Cathar in this deck. He's a mana accelerant early, then threatens lethal later, even if he's more of an enchantment than an actual creature in play. Sanctified Charge is an out and out bomb, and looks like a mistake to print at common (you basically always win the game when you cast this), even if you'd never want more than two. Overwhelm is ok too. Paragon of New Dawns is also decent if you have more of a white tokens theme.
So in summary, the convoke cards are incredible since they make all of your dorks mana elves, having enough two drops is critical to curving out, and there are additional token synergies in the set like effects that pump everything that you can just overwhelm your opponent from a stalled board state.
Here's a sample decklist for you that is a slightly nerfed version of what I drafted on Friday night:
Curve (the * indicates a convoke creature at a reduced manacost)
1 cccs
2 cccc
3 cc**
4 ccc***ss
5 *s
6 **
Now, this isn't a brag deck, I don't think it's particularly spectacular for a convoke deck. It has slightly too many actual 4-drops for one thing. The key to the deck is the rubbishy two-drop creatures that make everything else tick.
Living Totem can't pump itself, so while it adds three power and four toughness to the board, it is not actually a 3/4. Inspired Charge isn't available in drafts. Are you thinking of Sanctified Charge?
Living Totem can't pump itself, so while it adds three power and four toughness to the board, it is not actually a 3/4.
Thankyou. Yes, I know he's not actually a 3/4, but in the same way that 3 1/1 tokens is roughly equivalent to a 3/3, he is roughly equivalent to a 3/4, particularly given that one of the core premises of my post was that you MUST have enough 2-drops.
Nice nod to Soulmender as easily the most playable it's ever been and may well ever will be. If yoyu draft a really tight convoke deck with, say, 8+ convoke cards, he could be worth an inclusion. Selfless Cathar though, is just so much better, and I like that you included too. In a tight convoke deck, both have T: Add W to your mana pool. As Mystic shows, that's good at 1 mana.
Another one worth mentioning is Midnight Guard. That dude also got better in this set, though he was much more playable than Soulmender to begin with.
Yeah, I'd think if you can get your hands on multiple bomb convoke cards, I'd take every Soulmender I could. I'd always rather it be a Cathar, but 1 I'd want at least 2-4 one drops for the deck.
I'd also like to note that R/W Convoke is VERY good with support from Stoke the Flames, Borderland Marauder, and the plethora of red's cheap creatures/burn. Adds a lot to your deck. However, G/W is still better.
I'd also like to note that R/W Convoke is VERY good with support from Stoke the Flames, Borderland Marauder, and the plethora of red's cheap creatures/burn. Adds a lot to your deck. However, G/W is still better.
I'm not so sure. Green and especially white have very little removal in this set so you risk being wrecked by something you just can't answer. I had a crazy GW Sealed deck which looked very much like this convoke draft deck. I easily won the first three rounds then was completely crushed by a Burning Anger both games the final round. I just had no answers.
I do like the RW aggro deck with Triplicate Spirits as a finisher. I've had 2 sealed pools with 10-11 2-drops and a couple 1-drops with 2 Triplicate Spirits. I had a game of 2-drop, Midnight Guard, turn 4 spirits, turn 5 spirits that easily raced RG aggro.
So far I have played red in all 5 sealed and 2 drafts and I've gone 33-3 in rounds because it has so many cheap creatures and most of the cheap removal, while green just doesn't have much of either. I would say RW aggro/convoke is the best deck.
I also drafted W/U which was a lot more tricks-y about how it did its thing, but it was basically the same shell with Military Intelligence thrown in with Welkin Tern and Frost Lynx as your early tools. I don't think it can compete with R/W or G/W for the power level of it all, but there's definitely an argument to be made for drawing a card almost every turn, if you can get the Intelligences.
Yeah, it does seem like the reward for playing green is Siege Worm and that's about it.
Getting 10 2-drops in 2 colors in a sealed pool is staggeringly lucky (particularly getting 2 trip spirits on top of it).
Well, Living Totem is a critical 4-drop that you can curve out with on turn 3. But yeah, this is definitely a white strategy first and foremost, and you can easily pair a white convoke shell with any of the other colours.
Seraph is definitely your bomb in a Convoke deck. Otherwise, it's a "meh" card. I wouldn't run it in anything other than a dedicated convoke deck - it just doesn't seem worth it without the critical mass of creatures.
But when it hits, boy does it hit. I've had my Seraphs at 7/7 with protection mana up.
I still want to iterate how well Festergloom does against this strategy if you didn't get any white Paragons or and other anthem effects. I've been blown out by it at least three times. By "blown out" I mean Raise the Alarm/Triplicate Spirits tokens dead, as well as Seraph of the Masses in one game. I know it's "only" a 2-for-1 at that point, but in a Convoke deck, you're losing effectively five resources of mana. That's a BIG punch in the face, because you sort of craft your strategy around them.
To shift the discussion really quickly: what's the right amount of lands to play in the Limited Convoke deck? 18 feels like too much because you're able to get a lot of your stuff online a lot more quickly because of your psuedo-Elvish Mystics, but 17/16 (I'd never run 16) seems too little because sometimes you don't curve properly. Thoughts?
17 i'd think. The convoke deck isn't really interested in being fast so much as it wants to curve out. Even if you wind up with all your low cost guys you still want to be able to slam that sanctified charge off the top or if you're forced to trade away your board then draw into the triplicate spirits or siege wurm to be able to hard cast it. 18 is generally for more controlling decks or decks that are making a difficult splash and 16 for hard weenie or aggro strats that is more interested in drawing gas after gas once its 3-4 lands are down than it is working up a curve.
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To shift the discussion really quickly: what's the right amount of lands to play in the Limited Convoke deck? 18 feels like too much because you're able to get a lot of your stuff online a lot more quickly because of your psuedo-Elvish Mystics, but 17/16 (I'd never run 16) seems too little because sometimes you don't curve properly. Thoughts?
17 is generally right, but you can see I ran 16 land in the sample deck in the OP because one of the creatures was an Elvish Mystic, and only one non-convoke card cost more than 4 mana (Sanctified Charge).
I figured as much, I just remember a handful of games where I flooded with 17. I suppose that's just MtG luck, though, and that it's still right to just go the 17 (I'm still skeptical of 16, but I see the merits of it sometimes).
The numbers are the casting cost.
C stands for creature.
S stands for spell.
* stands for... uh? oh right, he says for reduced cost of convoke spell. (IOW, he puts them at an arbitrary discount.)
Convoke decks hinge on the following things:
1. A critical mass of convoke cards
2. Early creatures and tokens to ramp with
3. Some way to smack your opponent with your creatures
1. A critical mass of convoke cards
The best convoke decks will be GW, since that's where the best commons are. The thing about a convoke deck is that you want to play a creature on turn 2, 3, 4 etc. In a normal deck this is a 2-drop, a 3-drop, and a 4-drop. In a convoke deck, because you have already played a creature on turn 2, you can convoke a 4-drop on turn 3, then convoke a 6-drop on turn 4. 9 mana convoke cards typically only require 6 or even less land to cast. The convoke payoff, ranked from best to worst is:
Triplicate Spirits 4WW -> 3W for 3 1/1 flyers
Living Totem 3G -> 2G for effectively a 3/4
Siege Wurm 5GG -> 4G for a 5/5 trampler
Seraph of the Masses 5WW -> 4W for approximately a 5/5 flyer
Feral Incarnation 8G -> 6 for 3 3/3s
Will-Forged Golem 6 -> 4 for a 4/4
Triplicate Spirits in particular is awesome sauce, since it acts as the convoke payoff, is an evasive win condition by itself, and also a token generator for further convoke shenannigans.
2. Early creatures and tokens to ramp with
There's not a lot of early convoke cards, while there's an abundance of things to do with your surplus mana. For this reason it's CRUCIAL to draft an early curve of dorks. I won't bother listing the two-drop creatures, but THEY ARE ALL PLAYABLE. Raise the Alarm in particular lets you get a bit silly with future convoke turns. One mana creatures would normally be unplayable without some exception ability, but it's not a mistake to include something like Soulmender in your deck, even without the lifegain. It combos with Raise the Alarm to give you a T3 Triplicate Spirits, which not many decks can come back from, barring a Festergloom.
3. Some way to smack your opponent with your creatures
Most of the core cards in the deck are 'just' dudes, and the opponent can easily outclass them. In addition, GW doesn't have the best removal spells either. The solution is global pump effects. I am a huge fan of Selfless Cathar in this deck. He's a mana accelerant early, then threatens lethal later, even if he's more of an enchantment than an actual creature in play. Sanctified Charge is an out and out bomb, and looks like a mistake to print at common (you basically always win the game when you cast this), even if you'd never want more than two. Overwhelm is ok too. Paragon of New Dawns is also decent if you have more of a white tokens theme.
So in summary, the convoke cards are incredible since they make all of your dorks mana elves, having enough two drops is critical to curving out, and there are additional token synergies in the set like effects that pump everything that you can just overwhelm your opponent from a stalled board state.
Here's a sample decklist for you that is a slightly nerfed version of what I drafted on Friday night:
2 Selfless Cathar
1 Sungrace Pegasus
1 Kinsbaile Skirmisher
1 Raise the Alarm
1 Runeclaw Bear
2 Midnight Guard
2 Living Totem
2 Shaman of Spring
1 Razorfoot Griffin
2 Triplicate Spirits
1 Will-Forged Golem
1 Siege Wurm
2 Feral Incarnation
2 Hunt the Weak
1 Sanctified Charge
8 Forest
8 Plains
Curve (the * indicates a convoke creature at a reduced manacost)
1 cccs
2 cccc
3 cc**
4 ccc***ss
5 *s
6 **
Now, this isn't a brag deck, I don't think it's particularly spectacular for a convoke deck. It has slightly too many actual 4-drops for one thing. The key to the deck is the rubbishy two-drop creatures that make everything else tick.
Thankyou. Yes, I know he's not actually a 3/4, but in the same way that 3 1/1 tokens is roughly equivalent to a 3/3, he is roughly equivalent to a 3/4, particularly given that one of the core premises of my post was that you MUST have enough 2-drops.
Thanks, I've fixed that.
Another one worth mentioning is Midnight Guard. That dude also got better in this set, though he was much more playable than Soulmender to begin with.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
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I'm not so sure. Green and especially white have very little removal in this set so you risk being wrecked by something you just can't answer. I had a crazy GW Sealed deck which looked very much like this convoke draft deck. I easily won the first three rounds then was completely crushed by a Burning Anger both games the final round. I just had no answers.
Practice for Khans of Tarkir Limited:
Draft: (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5)
So far I have played red in all 5 sealed and 2 drafts and I've gone 33-3 in rounds because it has so many cheap creatures and most of the cheap removal, while green just doesn't have much of either. I would say RW aggro/convoke is the best deck.
Getting 10 2-drops in 2 colors in a sealed pool is staggeringly lucky (particularly getting 2 trip spirits on top of it).
Well, Living Totem is a critical 4-drop that you can curve out with on turn 3. But yeah, this is definitely a white strategy first and foremost, and you can easily pair a white convoke shell with any of the other colours.
It's amazing, but the problem is that if your opponent can kill your other creatures, Seraph shrinks.
But when it hits, boy does it hit. I've had my Seraphs at 7/7 with protection mana up.
I still want to iterate how well Festergloom does against this strategy if you didn't get any white Paragons or and other anthem effects. I've been blown out by it at least three times. By "blown out" I mean Raise the Alarm/Triplicate Spirits tokens dead, as well as Seraph of the Masses in one game. I know it's "only" a 2-for-1 at that point, but in a Convoke deck, you're losing effectively five resources of mana. That's a BIG punch in the face, because you sort of craft your strategy around them.
To shift the discussion really quickly: what's the right amount of lands to play in the Limited Convoke deck? 18 feels like too much because you're able to get a lot of your stuff online a lot more quickly because of your psuedo-Elvish Mystics, but 17/16 (I'd never run 16) seems too little because sometimes you don't curve properly. Thoughts?
17 is generally right, but you can see I ran 16 land in the sample deck in the OP because one of the creatures was an Elvish Mystic, and only one non-convoke card cost more than 4 mana (Sanctified Charge).
Curve (the * indicates a convoke creature at a reduced manacost)
1 cccs
2 cccc
3 cc**
4 ccc***ss
5 *s
6 **
C stands for creature.
S stands for spell.
* stands for... uh? oh right, he says for reduced cost of convoke spell. (IOW, he puts them at an arbitrary discount.)
crashm0nkey, if you have any more questions, please feel free to PM me. Cheers!