Unlike metalcut, I've liked it enough to keep 1 permanently in my mainboard. I've found it extremely useful in forcing how my opponents block and pushing damage through. The card draw is actually very nice as it takes place before combat damage is assigned, which can allow me to draw into removal or Strength of Arms. It's led to several victories that otherwise would not have happened had a Bonesplitter been in its place. I've only kept 1 because I'd prefer to avoid have multiple clog my opening hand or have it be my only equipment. At 1, it doesn't affect our number of P/T equipments much at all.
If you're running Sigarda's Aid, I'd avoid it because you want it equipped before they block.
After thinking about it, I am willing to change my mind about the Swords. I agree that Sword of War and Peace is probably the best sword for our deck. I haven't tested it myself yet, but I've reached out to multiple people to maybe get ahold of a few copies. I mean, think about it. If you punch through with a duelist with only the sword equipped and your opponent has 3 cards in hand, you'll deal 12 damage. 12. Damage. That's insane! You'll also gain a life or two.
Honestly, I'd only use SoWaP if I was trying to lower the budget of the deck. It's almost entirely worse than SoFaF in this deck and I consider it to be a worse version of SoFaI. Here's why:
Protection colors are arguably worse. Most decks relying on creatures in the current meta use green, black, or colorless creatures (Merfolk, Zooicide, and Burn being the exceptions). We're not busting through Abzan and Jund nearly as easily without that protection. Decks that splash for white and red rarely use mono-W/mono-R creatures. Further, we're still protected from Dreadbore, Terminate, Abrupt Decay, Tragic Slip, and all of the 1B removal cards.
The decks that do run W/R creatures are generally super aggressive (e.g., Burn). Swords are slow and we side them out against hyper-aggressive matchups.
But what about removal? A creature with SoFaF is already most likely bolt-safe and if they're packing bolts/path, they're likely to remove the creatures we want to protect before we can get a sword out and equip it.
Card advantage. As an equipment deck, we need all of the card advantage we can get because we run the risk of relying on topdecks. That's why I consider SoFaI much more reliable. SoFaF also gives us card advantage in that our opponent is having to discard.
Its ability isn't that great. Sure if we're connecting with Kor Duelist it's crazy but if we're connecting with an equipped-out Kor Duelist, we're probably already winning anyway. If it gets removed, all it's really done is change life totals slightly and hand sizes are usually slim by the time we land a sword. SoFaI is much more consistent in this regard if that's what you're going for. Plus it can't grind out a game like SoFaF. The ability to bust through creatures and then screw with your opponent's hand is so much more useful than changing life totals, in my opinion.
That awkward Strength of Arms nombo.
Basically, unless your meta is full of burn and soul sisters or you're trying to build this deck on a very tight budget, I'd stick to SoFaF (or SoFaI if you have something against SoFaF). If there was a more aggressive, all-in version of this deck, I'd advocate SoWaP or SoFaI over SoFaF but I don't think it's the right fit in this deck.
edit: Not a fan of Smuggler's Copter. Its slow, doesn't perform better than any of our creatures, and doesn't really fit with equipments aside from just being an artifact.
Smuggler's Copter doesn't seem so good in this deck. Our creatures can usually hit for more damage without needing to tap a creature, it itself isn't an equipment, and it can also go against equipment (really awkward having to reequip/tap and equipped creature every turn, and if you had multiple creatures, another equipment would have probably been better). The fact that every creature you topdeck has pseudo-haste doesn't matter too much if you slow yourself down by playing this card.
The evasion it has is pretty strong, but we have Skirge, Sword and Lens for that, and the card filtering seems kind of... unnecessary?
@Fayrawks: I don't know, in my (albeit limited) testing, the RW sword has been pretty rad. It won me a few games against Bant Eldrazi that I wouldn't have won otherwise, and I swung really hard against Dredge a few times. I suspect that The RW one and the GB one are almost equal in strength, but are good in different matchups.
Nice points on Smuggler's Copter everyone, I'm starting to like the way y'all think!
Really loving this deck. The only problem I have is unrelated to the deck and that is my own inexperience in both the game in general and the Modern format. Only remedy for that is to play more. Played against a mono red goblins deck a while ago and Kor Firewalker just... walked all over them. This deck is a lot of fun and I cannot wait to finish building it.
Alright, you've got my attention with those points. I don't think 14 white sources is too little though. Remember that Ghost Quarter hits your own Darksteel Citadel for a plains.
I can respect Skyfisher and Exemplar. I think the idea of not having to spend any mana on equipping on turn 2 is one worth looking into, and the whole "bounce to draw an extra card" also piques my interest. I'm worried that Skyfisher is a bit risky though, as it's very bad tempo if you don't have a Bone Saw, and I'm almost certain that either Kitesail Apprentice or Auriok Steelshaper fills its slot better.
I think you may also be underestimating Vault Skirge. The evasion is really, really good. It does wonders against all the aggro decks that don't run a ton of removal (Infect, Affinity, Merfolk, Eldrazi, etc.) where Exemplar or Duelist might just get chumped/stonewalled.
The disruption and answers isn't really that relevant. Plus, we've got some good answers. Between practically 8 paths, Mortarpod and a side dish of Strength of Arms, the deck is pretty resilient while not folding to combo. I mean, I've won against both Infect and Eldrazi and in my experience they're pretty even matchups.
Ghost Quarter targeting Flagstones of Trokair fetches you two plains. Be sure to tap Flagstones to add mana because the plains it fetches comes in tapped.
Flagstones of Trokair + Flagstones of Trokair lets you fetch a tapped plains because of the legendary rule.
That's why I run 2x Flagstones (more and I risk getting hurt by RiP). It reduces the number of hands I have to mulligan, gives me some additional mana fixing, and thins my deck (without the negative of paying life). However, it's definitely the last thing you should pick up as filling out your sideboard is much more important.
Kor skyfisher can do so much in this deck: When missing a third landdrop, we can ramp for 1 mana turn 3, with Puresteel Paladin and Bone Saw in play it draws an additional card and if we need a chumpblocker it can reset Flayer Husk and Mortarpod.
Kor Skyfisher definitely is interesting and I like that it ramps. Would you say it performs better than Auriok Steelshaper, though? Steelshaper's equip cost reduction is extremely useful and is used much more often than 1 turn.
I mean, I felt that Strength of Arms was often "dead" in my hand, using it just to get the 1/1, as most Modern removal spells don't really do damage and it was hard to save my creatures from Dismember.
It takes practice to know when to use Strength and how. It's not just protection from removal but can be used to do other things such as create an additional creature with flash (can be very useful for chump blocking), saving your creatures from combat damage (or alternatively using it to kill an opponent's creature), and pushing additional damage through. Removing it also means that the only cards we ever hold in our hand are extra lands, Path to Exile, and Bone Saw (on rare occasion if we want to save it for when we land a Puresteel Paladin). Also, don't underestimate the advantage we gain from opponents having to play around the possibility of us having a Strength in hand as opposed to knowing that the only card we're likely to keep in hand is PtE.
Keep in mind that Skyfisher doesn't actually ramp, it just enables you to play an additional 1-drop on turn 3, which isn't nearly as useful as getting a 3rd land on the field.
I'm with Fayrawks on Strength of Arms. That card has performed amazingly in my experience, and even when it didn't, it wasn't worse than a lot of the other cards would've been in that situation (i.e. when you need a specific card to win).
Also, after thinking about it, I'm not really digging the thought of running Mana Tithe. It's not played for a reason, and that reason is the same as why Force Spike sees no play at all. It's useless past turn 3-4 when any respectable deck can afford to keep a mana up after the surprise is gone.
Finally, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of Toolcraft Exemplar. It's all about finding out what to cut for him though. I'll come back to you all on that.
I just found something interesting regarding the amount of lands.
I did an experiment just now where I drew 30 opening hands and had a look at how many of them were mulligans because of not having enough white sources or lands. I also drew 1 card for each hand that had one land but was still keepable because of all the cards in the hand costing 1 or 2 mana.
The results were 27 to 3. I kept 27/30 hands. This means that 9/10 hands are at least not horrible, and if they are, it's not because of the lands.
Make what you will of it, and please do try yourself. I found it interesting.
I think that Mana Tithe works because no one is expecting it. If you they knew we ran a force spike, they'd play around it. Right now it's kind of a "gotcha! trick that reeks a bit of one-trick-pony.
If you decide to play Mana Tithe, it should only be a three-of. You really don't want to draw any more than two, since they do nothing proactively and force you to hold up mana (SoA has uses on your turn, and can still advance your board if they don't do anything). Also, if you're playing at a local store, you should probably rotate it in and out of the deck, since your opponents will know to play around it if you keep it in all the time.
Also, to add to the land bit: using hypergeometric distribution (with 18 lands on the play and accounting for mulligans), we have a ~95% chance of getting a land by turn one and an ~80% chance of getting two by turn two.
I tried the deck without Auriok Steelshapers. You won't really have mana problems exactly, since the curve is lowered, but there were times when the equipment felt a little clunky. I'd remove the Steelshaper and Mortarpods for a Path, Soa, and the fourth Exemplar.
Also, if you never drew the Lens, you shouldn't remove it, no? You never got the chance to test it and see if it was good or not.
Glad that Mana Tithe is working out for you, but we probably need more testing before PorousBoat can add it. Another big problem that I didn't think about is how bad it is with Path to Exile. It literally gives them the mana that they need to pay for the Tithe!
I really, really dislike Mana Tithe. I firmly believe that no other white decks play it for a reason. In a format where Spell Pierce sometimes isn't good enough, I highly doubt Tithe is. However, I'm not going to let my personal opinion color the primer enough to rule it out completely. I'll add something or other.
Also, I think replacing Aura of Silence with Fragmentize is a good idea. It's faster and works better as counter-hate. Affinity is already a good matchup either way.
Has anyone tried out Porcelain Legionnaire in the Toolcraft Exemplar version of the deck (maybe even the OG version)? Chaining those together on turn 1 and 2 seems really strong. It pairs well with equipment while at the same time not needing them, counts as an artifact, and is at least a good blocker pre-sideboard against aggro decks, where the life loss matters. We'd probably have to take out some Auriok Steelshapers for them, though. Legionnaire is better when there are only 0-1 equipment are around (happens surprisingly often), but Steelshaper outshines it when there are 3+ equipment in play.
Also, the 1st deck with Mana Tithe in it was from a 2010 deck in an Extended format, and the 2nd deck was created by the author, who mentioned that he removed it after the tournament (his reason being that he needed more threats).
I'm not sure I'd say that it's worth it to maindeck and answer, but if you really feel like you have to, I think your best bet is probably just running a couple of Fragmentize.
Angelic Purge is pretty bad. It's at the top of our curve, costs 3 cmc, requires us to sacrifice a permanent, and is a sorcery. Might as well use Oblivion Ring, but I think that is also a poor choice given the cost.
I love this deck but it just feels kind of inconsistent if you don't pull a Puresteel Paladin in the opener or first couple turns. Any idea how we can work on that? Also what do you guys think of Ardent Recruit / Auriok Edgewright / Stitcher's Graft?
Would you mind expanding on that? I win a lot without Paladin. I think that's one of the main strengths of this deck actually; how all the pieces fit together really well.
How was the SoFaI? It's very strong when it lands, but SoWaP would probably be better against non-blue red decks, and getting two telegraphed spells through a deck that does contain blue would be difficult. Do you just get it when you want the pure power?
@zplaneswalkerz: Interesting point about Strength of Arms vs. Steelshapers Gift. I personally love Strength of arms because of it's versatility and dislike Gift because of the not-needed redundancy. The deck already has plenty of redundancy and I often end up siding out the more expensive cards (Swords and such) in favor of answers or a lower curve. Diluting the deck with extra copies of these already "eh" cards doesn't really seem optimal to me, especially considering the blisteringly fast metagame.
The thing is, Strength of Arms is a lot more versatile than I think you give it credit for. It's both a creature and a very potent pump spell that can catch your opponent off-guard. It's good both off the top of your deck as long as there's literally any creatures on the board at all and you've got an equipment (which you have most of the time if you're out of cards). It pretty much fills the same role as Gift, but for a single mana.
Unlike metalcut, I've liked it enough to keep 1 permanently in my mainboard. I've found it extremely useful in forcing how my opponents block and pushing damage through. The card draw is actually very nice as it takes place before combat damage is assigned, which can allow me to draw into removal or Strength of Arms. It's led to several victories that otherwise would not have happened had a Bonesplitter been in its place. I've only kept 1 because I'd prefer to avoid have multiple clog my opening hand or have it be my only equipment. At 1, it doesn't affect our number of P/T equipments much at all.
If you're running Sigarda's Aid, I'd avoid it because you want it equipped before they block.
Honestly, I'd only use SoWaP if I was trying to lower the budget of the deck. It's almost entirely worse than SoFaF in this deck and I consider it to be a worse version of SoFaI. Here's why:
- Protection colors are arguably worse. Most decks relying on creatures in the current meta use green, black, or colorless creatures (Merfolk, Zooicide, and Burn being the exceptions). We're not busting through Abzan and Jund nearly as easily without that protection. Decks that splash for white and red rarely use mono-W/mono-R creatures. Further, we're still protected from Dreadbore, Terminate, Abrupt Decay, Tragic Slip, and all of the 1B removal cards.
- The decks that do run W/R creatures are generally super aggressive (e.g., Burn). Swords are slow and we side them out against hyper-aggressive matchups.
- But what about removal? A creature with SoFaF is already most likely bolt-safe and if they're packing bolts/path, they're likely to remove the creatures we want to protect before we can get a sword out and equip it.
- Card advantage. As an equipment deck, we need all of the card advantage we can get because we run the risk of relying on topdecks. That's why I consider SoFaI much more reliable. SoFaF also gives us card advantage in that our opponent is having to discard.
- Its ability isn't that great. Sure if we're connecting with Kor Duelist it's crazy but if we're connecting with an equipped-out Kor Duelist, we're probably already winning anyway. If it gets removed, all it's really done is change life totals slightly and hand sizes are usually slim by the time we land a sword. SoFaI is much more consistent in this regard if that's what you're going for. Plus it can't grind out a game like SoFaF. The ability to bust through creatures and then screw with your opponent's hand is so much more useful than changing life totals, in my opinion.
- That awkward Strength of Arms nombo.
Basically, unless your meta is full of burn and soul sisters or you're trying to build this deck on a very tight budget, I'd stick to SoFaF (or SoFaI if you have something against SoFaF). If there was a more aggressive, all-in version of this deck, I'd advocate SoWaP or SoFaI over SoFaF but I don't think it's the right fit in this deck.edit: Not a fan of Smuggler's Copter. Its slow, doesn't perform better than any of our creatures, and doesn't really fit with equipments aside from just being an artifact.
WRGBurnGRW
RBGJund Shadowvine[/mana]gbr[/mana]
RGTooth & NailGR
Standard:
BGBG Energy ConstrictorGB
The evasion it has is pretty strong, but we have Skirge, Sword and Lens for that, and the card filtering seems kind of... unnecessary?
Nice points on Smuggler's Copter everyone, I'm starting to like the way y'all think!
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
I can respect Skyfisher and Exemplar. I think the idea of not having to spend any mana on equipping on turn 2 is one worth looking into, and the whole "bounce to draw an extra card" also piques my interest. I'm worried that Skyfisher is a bit risky though, as it's very bad tempo if you don't have a Bone Saw, and I'm almost certain that either Kitesail Apprentice or Auriok Steelshaper fills its slot better.
I think you may also be underestimating Vault Skirge. The evasion is really, really good. It does wonders against all the aggro decks that don't run a ton of removal (Infect, Affinity, Merfolk, Eldrazi, etc.) where Exemplar or Duelist might just get chumped/stonewalled.
The disruption and answers isn't really that relevant. Plus, we've got some good answers. Between practically 8 paths, Mortarpod and a side dish of Strength of Arms, the deck is pretty resilient while not folding to combo. I mean, I've won against both Infect and Eldrazi and in my experience they're pretty even matchups.
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
- Ghost Quarter targeting Darksteel Citadel fetches you a plains without destroying DC.
- Ghost Quarter targeting Flagstones of Trokair fetches you two plains. Be sure to tap Flagstones to add mana because the plains it fetches comes in tapped.
- Flagstones of Trokair + Flagstones of Trokair lets you fetch a tapped plains because of the legendary rule.
That's why I run 2x Flagstones (more and I risk getting hurt by RiP). It reduces the number of hands I have to mulligan, gives me some additional mana fixing, and thins my deck (without the negative of paying life). However, it's definitely the last thing you should pick up as filling out your sideboard is much more important.Kor Skyfisher definitely is interesting and I like that it ramps. Would you say it performs better than Auriok Steelshaper, though? Steelshaper's equip cost reduction is extremely useful and is used much more often than 1 turn.
It takes practice to know when to use Strength and how. It's not just protection from removal but can be used to do other things such as create an additional creature with flash (can be very useful for chump blocking), saving your creatures from combat damage (or alternatively using it to kill an opponent's creature), and pushing additional damage through. Removing it also means that the only cards we ever hold in our hand are extra lands, Path to Exile, and Bone Saw (on rare occasion if we want to save it for when we land a Puresteel Paladin). Also, don't underestimate the advantage we gain from opponents having to play around the possibility of us having a Strength in hand as opposed to knowing that the only card we're likely to keep in hand is PtE.
WRGBurnGRW
RBGJund Shadowvine[/mana]gbr[/mana]
RGTooth & NailGR
Standard:
BGBG Energy ConstrictorGB
I'm with Fayrawks on Strength of Arms. That card has performed amazingly in my experience, and even when it didn't, it wasn't worse than a lot of the other cards would've been in that situation (i.e. when you need a specific card to win).
Also, after thinking about it, I'm not really digging the thought of running Mana Tithe. It's not played for a reason, and that reason is the same as why Force Spike sees no play at all. It's useless past turn 3-4 when any respectable deck can afford to keep a mana up after the surprise is gone.
Finally, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of Toolcraft Exemplar. It's all about finding out what to cut for him though. I'll come back to you all on that.
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
I did an experiment just now where I drew 30 opening hands and had a look at how many of them were mulligans because of not having enough white sources or lands. I also drew 1 card for each hand that had one land but was still keepable because of all the cards in the hand costing 1 or 2 mana.
The results were 27 to 3. I kept 27/30 hands. This means that 9/10 hands are at least not horrible, and if they are, it's not because of the lands.
Make what you will of it, and please do try yourself. I found it interesting.
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
Also, to add to the land bit: using hypergeometric distribution (with 18 lands on the play and accounting for mulligans), we have a ~95% chance of getting a land by turn one and an ~80% chance of getting two by turn two.
Also, if you never drew the Lens, you shouldn't remove it, no? You never got the chance to test it and see if it was good or not.
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
Also, I think replacing Aura of Silence with Fragmentize is a good idea. It's faster and works better as counter-hate. Affinity is already a good matchup either way.
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
Also, the 1st deck with Mana Tithe in it was from a 2010 deck in an Extended format, and the 2nd deck was created by the author, who mentioned that he removed it after the tournament (his reason being that he needed more threats).
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
WRGBurnGRW
RBGJund Shadowvine[/mana]gbr[/mana]
RGTooth & NailGR
Standard:
BGBG Energy ConstrictorGB
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~
I'll have to test it when the set drops.
U Merfolk U
W Mono W PBJ W
UBRGDredgeGRBU
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U
~I think Randy Buehler's mug is buehlertiful~