I'm on choke for control decks. Makes it easier to get waljers through counterspells. Also choke isn't really heavily played either so it has an element of surprise where they might not expect it games 2 or 3. I haven't been able to test much but Ajani has been average-good for me so far. Maybe when I get more games in I'll be able to make a better judgement call regarding him. Also, i like the utopia sprawl idea. Mana dorks can be fragile. Completely forgot about Xenagos. I'll switch him up with Ral for sure. I don't know about a 3rd Nissa. Creating blockers is great on most boardstates, but I feel like there should be something more productive than a 3rd copy of nissa.
Samut is cool, but her +1 is basically useless. I think Ral is probably better, but an extra copy of Chandra, T.o.D./Tamiyo F.R./Something that already exists is probably better still. The new Nicol Bolas, on the other hand, might be worth trying. At least he's not double black like his previous incarnation.
Also, I was at the Baltimore Open and played for 7 rounds before dropping, with a final record of 3-4. Here are my matchups:
WU Control: 2-0
Jund Death's Shadow: 0-2
Eldrazi Tron: 2-1 (lost first game, then went up to 4 Blood Moon)
Elves: 2-0 (got a bit lucky)
Burn: 0-2 (very tough matchup)
Merfolk: 1-2
Goblins: 0-2 (randomly hosed by Legion Loyalist)
I wasn't playing Worship in my sideboard, but I was sure to pick a few up after that!
Also, crazy idea I had: Dusk // Dawn! It's a sweeper that doesn't touch our mana dorks, and can even be flashbacked to get all our mana dorks back for whatever reason. Doesn't help against fast aggro (like Burn), but against other creature decks it could be pretty powerful. Thoughts?
Samut is so bad without Doubling Season that I wouldn't consider playing 4x, maybe 2x copies max. Tamiyo is good as a 2x-of as well as Chandra ToD which is very good on her own and with DS as well (the Ult' kills slower but is rarely beaten) .
If you're doing an all-in build, Samut is basically a Jace tutor. I'm personally not a fan of the all-in combo strategy, though.
As for Dusk // Dawn, you might be right that Explosives is generally better. I was thinking it might be good against midrange creature decks like Merfolk, Eldrazi, maybe Jund? If there was a sweeper that hit all creatures with power 2 or greater it would be perfect.
I just found this deck primer, I run something along the same lines using tron lands to ramp.
Just wanted to mention,dont know if it already has been, under your description of walkers at the beginning of the primer you have karn as a walker that ultimates the turn it comes out,it does not sadly,it comes into play with 6 counter's on it which then double to 12,where karns ultimate is 14. Ugin on the other hand fits the bill.
I think the issue with Heart of Kiran is it's basically a win condition (and a fairly aggressive one at that), and this deck doesn't need more win conditions, it needs better survivability.
What do people think about Djeru, with Eyes Open (bad translation)? I think 5 mana is probably asking too much, but he's pretty decent card advantage and a must-kill for the opponent if they're trying to take out our walkers. He dies to Lightning Bolt, but never to Fatal Push, at least. Especially strong with Jace, Architect of Thought's +1. I think the question is, does this deck want a toolbox card? I think of Chandra, Flamecaller, Elspeth, Sun's Champion, and Gideon Jura as sort of the "turn the game around" type of cards if you draw them at a critical moment. Would maybe a 1-of wildcard be good?
I'm not sure it is good enough at 5-mana, for a tutor there is Call the Gatewatch which is a bit more mana efficient as the 4/3 body isn't that great most of the time.
But just running enough PW's should be good enough to draw into them consistently imho.
The thing about Djeru is that if we already have doubling season, almost any of our planeswalker draws can end the game, so its preferable to just have draw cards or more walkers
The reason I like Djeru isn't because he's a tutor as much as it's because he's an inherent two-for-one. Call the Gatewatch is cheaper, but also doesn't affect the board at all. Also, I wouldn't be relying on him to find game-ending planeswalkers after doubling season hits, I'd use him more as a toolbox card, since (at least in my build) there are a bunch of 1-of walkers that fill niche roles.
I'm still not convinced he's actually worth running, but I'll probably test him out. I think he's probably around the same power level as Thalia's Lancers.
I played an all-in Naya version of this deck using samut and nahiri as my only way to cheat in Emrakul.. got 0-3ed
1-2 kikijiki combo
1-2 sliver
1-2 jund
I drew emrakul 7 out of 9 games.. what a luck ~_~
^^
It is probably a better idea to run 4x Thalia's Lancers now over extra copies of PW's in this deck.
Poor Djeru, lost even the ultra-niche role it could have as a PW-tutor creature.
Wow, so Planeswalker Uniqueness is gone as of Ixalan. That wasn't a huge deal for this deck, but I remember several games where I had to trade in Chandra, Torch of Defiance for Chandra, Flamecaller. But in addition to making decisions easier when playing the deck, it also makes decisions easier when building. So now we can consider running Nissa, Vital Force without worrying that she might conflict with Nissa, Voice of Zendikar.
How about Jace, Cunning Castaway? I feel like he definitely has potential. Unfortunately, his +1 won't often be immediately relevant unless you can attack with an exalted Birds of Paradise. It also sucks that he puts himself down to 1 when using his minus ability, but I guess that's what you get for 3 mana. The drawback on the tokens seems negligible to me, since any spell that targets it would likely kill it anyway. And it doesn't trigger on abilities, so Tamiyo, Field Researcher's +1 gets a bit better. Also, just being a token generator at all is great, since it means he has synergy with Doubling Season even if he's in play first.
And if you do have Doubling Season out, oh boy. Jace turns into a malignant amoeba, rapidly splitting in two until there are a million copies. Then each member of the youngest generation can create 2 Illusion tokens. You can also +1 an infinite number of times, allowing you to basically loot into the perfect hand (you don't have to worry about milling because of Emrakul), provided you can connect with at least one creature. Unfortunately he doesn't win the game on the spot, unless you have enough mana left over for a Jace, Architect of Thought and you can do the infinite looting thing. But at least if your opponent board-wipes you can just create an infinite number of 2/2s again on your next turn.
Unfortunately, Jace doesn't really protect himself. 2/2 is a really awkward size in modern, since anything that's attacking is probably bigger, or there are a bunch of them, so it may not be much of an upgrade over Nissa's plant tokens. Jace's only major advantage over Nissa is that he does ultimate immediately off Doubling Season. Nissa's +1 always does something, but Jace's will probably only be relevant half the time at best. As I'm writing this, I'm realizing that Gideon of the Trials may be what we really want, anyway. His new lack of conflict with his past self is a significant upgrade. His +1 protects himself, his middle ability makes a creature that Tamiyo (or new Jace) can interact with, and his "ultimate" randomly hoses weird things like Ad Nauseum.
As for the planeswalkers-being-legendary thing, it is funny that Thalia's Lancers is probably preferable over Djeru, with Eyes Open, as the Lancers survive Bolt and are sturdier in combat. I looked for other cards that care about legendary permanents, and unfortunately there really aren't any. The only two that came close were Reki, the History of Kamigawa, and Yomiji, who Bars the Way.
Wow, so Planeswalker Uniqueness is gone as of Ixalan. That wasn't a huge deal for this deck, but I remember several games where I had to trade in Chandra, Torch of Defiance for Chandra, Flamecaller. But in addition to making decisions easier when playing the deck, it also makes decisions easier when building. So now we can consider running Nissa, Vital Force without worrying that she might conflict with Nissa, Voice of Zendikar.
How about Jace, Cunning Castaway? I feel like he definitely has potential. Unfortunately, his +1 won't often be immediately relevant unless you can attack with an exalted Birds of Paradise. It's unfortuante he puts himself down to 1 when using is minus ability, but I guess that's what you get for 3 mana. The drawback on the tokens seems negligible to me, since any spell that targets it would likely kill it anyway. And it doesn't trigger on abilities, so Tamiyo, Field Researcher's +1 gets a bit better. Also, just being a token generator at all is great, since it means he has synergy with Doubling Season even if he's in play first.
And if you do have Doubling Season out, oh boy. Jace turns into a malignant amoeba, rapidly splitting in two until there are a million copies. Then each member of the youngest generation can create 2 Illusion tokens. You can also +1 an infinite number of times, allowing you to basically loot into the perfect hand (you don't have to worry about milling because of Emrakul), provided you can connect with at least one creature. Unfortunately he doesn't win the game on the spot, unless you have enough mana left over for a Jace, Architect of Thought and you can do the infinite looting thing. But at least if your opponent board-wipes you can just create an infinite number of 2/2s again on your next turn.
Unfortunately, Jace doesn't really protect himself. 2/2 is a really awkward size in modern, since anything that's attacking is probably bigger, or there are a bunch of them, so it may not be much of an upgrade over Nissa's plant tokens. Jace's only major advantage over Nissa is that he does ultimate immediately off Doubling Season. Nissa's +1 always does something, but Jace's will probably only be relevant half the time at best. As I'm writing this, I'm realizing that Gideon of the Trials may be what we really want, anyway. His new lack of conflict with his past self is a significant upgrade. His +1 protects himself, his middle ability makes a creature that Tamiyo (or new Jace) can interact with, and his "ultimate" randomly hoses weird things like Ad Nauseum.
As for the planeswalkers being legendary thing, it is funny that Thalia's Lancers is probably preferable over Djeru, with Eyes Open, as the Lancers survive Bolt and are sturdier in combat. I looked for other cards that care about legendary permanents, and unfortunately there really aren't any. The only two that came close were Reki, the History of Kamigawa, and Yomiji, who Bars the Way.
The other two that are popular choices are Honor-Worn Shaku and Untaidake, the Cloud Keeper not that either is going to be good enough for this deck imo. Untaidake is possible for ramping out walkers, but without a default mana producing mode it can only help cast about a third of the deck and even then you usually need an oath of nissa to be useful plus it enters tapped.
That's true, I should have at least mentioned Honor-Worn Shaku. Untaidake seemed like total trash, but the Shaku probably does produce 2 mana fairly reliably, and often 3 or more. Actually, it might be really good if you want to try to ramp into Karn or Ugin.
That Felidar Guardian can blink Oath does make it worth considering, I think. If I'm going to run the Saheeli package, though, I think I'd do 1 Saheeli, 2 Felidar Guardian, and 2 Thalia's Lancers. I wouldn't make it the focus of the deck, since Saheeli is pretty bad without Felidar, but I could see Felidar being legitimately good on its own a lot of the time. If you have Felidar out and draw Lancers, you can go get Saheeli. Also, both Saheeli and Felidar can re-trigger the Lancers. That actually seems really powerful.
Also, I just remembered that Oath of Nissa is legendary. I can't think of too many situations where you'd want to tutor for Oath with Lancers, but it's an option. But it does mean that Honor-Worn Shaku gets a bit better. I'm wondering if there's some kind of weird ramp deck we could make that basically counts on Shaku basically being a cheaper Thran Dynamo, and ramps us into Karn or Ugin.
On Thummingbird: I think if you want proliferate, Tezzeret's Gambit is your best option, though Thrummingbird isn't bad. If you don't have a Nissa, this deck doesn't have a whole lot to do in turn 2 other than throw down more mana dorks. Playing turn 1 mana dork, turn 2 Thrummingbird, turn 3 Tamiyo, threaten to go ultimate next turn... seems pretty good.
I'm still confused as to why anyone would run Samut in this deck. Her ultimate wins the game, sure, but the same can be said for several other planeswalkers whose other abilities don't suck.
Also, I've been to an FNM and a side event at GP DC, and I figured I'd do a quick report. Round 1 at the GP was quite something...
At the FNM I got the bye round 1. Round 2 I'm up against Skred Red. I easily win the first game, but rounds 2 and 3 I realize I basically have nothing that can deal with Stormbreath Dragon. I manage to kill one with Chandra, Torch of Defiance, but he has another one. Nahiri, Tamiyo, and Gideon are all useless, and he's able to just pick off all my planeswalkers. Ouch.
Round 3 is against mono-white Death and Taxes. He's playing a slightly off-beat build that's running Sword of Light and Shadow. Wow, protection from white again? In a moment of genius, however, I realize Tamiyo can tap down the sword, allowing Nahiri to exile it. This revelation, in part, allows me to win the match.
Round 4 is against Goblins. I win game 1, then go on to lose the next two, although both games are very close. During game 3, I manage to destroy his whole board with help from Engineered Explosives, and Nissa is ready to ultimate next turn, putting me out of Goblin Grenade range. Unfortunately, he topdecks a goblin and has the grenade, so I lose the match.
Round 1 is against Bant Eldrazi, which I consider to be one of my more favorable matchups. Game 1 I fairly quickly get the upper hand with multiple planeswalkers, and despite being only the first round, the guy starts to get pretty noticeably irritated. He seemed like a pretty nice guy at first, but pretty much everything I do gets met with an exasperated "yep", "uh-huh", or "yeah, why not"? When I drop Doubling Season he makes some comment like, "I didn't realize we were playing EDH." I play a second Tamiyo next turn, ult, free Chandra TOD, ult, and I have 6 mana dorks to Lava Axe him death. He's not amused. It doesn't help that the guy next to him is watching our game and tells me he's a big fan of my deck.
Game 2 I get Doubling Season down on turn 3 or 4, but he has two Displacers and a Matter Reshaper. He makes the mistake of not leaving mana up for Displacer when he passes the turn, allowing me to drop Nahiri and attack with Emrakul. Extremely frustrated, he sacks all his lands and goes down to 3, leaving his three beaters. Next turn he attacks with everything, putting me at 4 and threatening lethal next turn, but I have Xenagos, so I make two satyrs and swing for the game. He tells me Xenagos only makes one token, but I remind him of Doubling Season. He slams the chair in when he leaves. Wow. I think of myself as a polite and fairly upbeat person... I guess some people just really hate losing to fringe decks?
Round 2 is against Jund Hollow One. I manage to control the board and win game 1, but the next two games I draw fairly bad hands that get worse after I get Thoughtseized. He also gets Hollow one out on turn 2, and I can't really keep up.
Round 3 is against what looks like Ad Nauseam (scyrlands, Lotus Bloom, Unlife), but is actually Enduring Ideal. Game 1 apparently he draws really badly and I win. Game 2 is pretty drawn-out, I get only one mana dork and he plays Suppression Field. I finally get Nahiri, which I use to kill Unlife and Leyline of Sanctity, allowing me to ult Chandra TOD (which I've gotten up to 10 loyalty; no reason to ult with Leyline out), and kill him with the emblem.
Round 4 we agree to split, but play it out. He's playing Eldrazi Tron, which I consider a fairly favorable matchup. I win game 1 and he wins game 2, both are total blowouts, then game 3, I guess without the pressure of prizes on the line, we each make a couple of mistakes and he ultimately wins, but it's a really messy game.
Overall, this seems like a good deck, there are very few matches where I go 0-2, and weirdly, the matches I lose often start out with me winning game 1. This is especially odd because I think the deck is pretty difficult to sideboard against.
She is not bad but far from the better 6-mana walkers like Elspeth or Chandra in terms of board control,
the Ult' is good but not better than the combo-walkers (Jace, Nahiri, Samut).
Black seems to be the least valuable color for this deck, none of the Black walkers are worth playing here imho.
How about Search for Azcanta in this deck? Card selection seems really strong here, since after the first few turns you don't want to see too many lands or manay dorks, so scry 1 each turn would be pretty good. And then the flip side basically finds every card we'd want to find (Planeswalkers, Doubling Season, any sideboard cards).
On the other hand, it gets shut off by Blood Moon, and gets killed by Ghost Quarter, et al.
I don't know how I missed this, but I randomly decided to search for "Doubling Season" with Star City's deck database, and to my surprise, two decks came back, and one came in 3rd place!The other was in 311th place.
While the core of the deck is very similar to the original Double Moon Walkers, there are a number of important differences. First, it maindecks 2 copies Worship! It's also playing Utopia Sprawl over Noble Hierarch, which is a little strange, given that it's playing two Tamiyo, Field Researchers, and exalted Birds and plant tokens are usually the best way to draw cards off her.
It also plays 3 copies of both Blood Moon and Doubling Season. That seems a little much to me. Blood Moon does destroy certain decks, but it can be totally dead, and also not a card you want to see multiples of. I'm open to the 3 Doubling Seasons since I haven't tried it, but I've been reasonably happy with 2. I'm a also just a little leery about having so many enchantments, since Oath of Nissa can't get them.
There are only 20 lands, and only 1 of them is a utility land. I run 3 in my build (2 Gavony Township, 1 Westvale Abbey). I can see going down to 1 Township, but Abbey has won me games, or at least pressured the opponent into playing around it. I guess it's less useful if you're cutting mana dorks for Utopia Sprawl, though.
This deck was from August of last year, meaning it didn't have access to Chandra, Torch of Defiance. I think we probably want at least 1 copy to replace Ral Zarek. Nissa, Vital Force is probably the only other planeswalker that didn't exist at the time that's worth running. And both are played in the other decklist (which I can't take too seriously since it's running Deploy the Gatewatch). The only planeswalker that I'm surprised to see not in the list is Elspeth, Sun's Champion.
One thing I just noticed: this deck is actually 62 cards.
She is not bad but far from the better 6-mana walkers like Elspeth or Chandra in terms of board control,
the Ult' is good but not better than the combo-walkers (Jace, Nahiri, Samut).
Here's my take on this deck:
I don't want to be doing anything on Turn 2 other than playing my second mana dork or Utopia Sprawl, so that I can play Doubling Season on T3. In fact, I don't want to do anything on T3 other than play Doubling Season, so I play 4 copies. I don't want any planeswalkers that don't either win the game on T4 or come down on T3 to help me survive and find the Doubling Season. For me, this deck is not about "playing a kooky fun superfriends deck", it's basically a sideways combo deck that cheats out Emrakul or the opponent's best cards... or both.
Speaking of helping me survive, the cards that make T3 Doubling Season possible also make T2/T3 Madcap Experiment into Platinum Empyrion very easy. I almost always side out the package once I know which hate to bring in.
My version is very streamlined and I find it quite fun:
She is not bad but far from the better 6-mana walkers like Elspeth or Chandra in terms of board control,
the Ult' is good but not better than the combo-walkers (Jace, Nahiri, Samut).
Here's my take on this deck:
I don't want to be doing anything on Turn 2 other than playing my second mana dork or Utopia Sprawl, so that I can play Doubling Season on T3. In fact, I don't want to do anything on T3 other than play Doubling Season, so I play 4 copies. I don't want any planeswalkers that don't either win the game on T4 or come down on T3 to help me survive and find the Doubling Season. For me, this deck is not about "playing a kooky fun superfriends deck", it's basically a sideways combo deck that cheats out Emrakul or the opponent's best cards... or both.
Speaking of helping me survive, the cards that make T3 Doubling Season possible also make T2/T3 Madcap Experiment into Platinum Empyrion very easy. I almost always side out the package once I know which hate to bring in.
My version is very streamlined and I find it quite fun:
I saw the deck online and looked like a blast. One I saw had a bunch of different walkers but I can see how your streamline could be more constant.
Have you killed yourself with Madcap Experiment into Emrakul, the Aeons Torn?
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Also, I was at the Baltimore Open and played for 7 rounds before dropping, with a final record of 3-4. Here are my matchups:
WU Control: 2-0
Jund Death's Shadow: 0-2
Eldrazi Tron: 2-1 (lost first game, then went up to 4 Blood Moon)
Elves: 2-0 (got a bit lucky)
Burn: 0-2 (very tough matchup)
Merfolk: 1-2
Goblins: 0-2 (randomly hosed by Legion Loyalist)
I wasn't playing Worship in my sideboard, but I was sure to pick a few up after that!
Also, crazy idea I had: Dusk // Dawn! It's a sweeper that doesn't touch our mana dorks, and can even be flashbacked to get all our mana dorks back for whatever reason. Doesn't help against fast aggro (like Burn), but against other creature decks it could be pretty powerful. Thoughts?
I'd probably prefer Engineered Explosives instead (except for the ridiculous price of the card).
Tamiyo is good as a 2x-of as well as Chandra ToD which is very good on her own and with DS as well (the Ult' kills slower but is rarely beaten) .
As for Dusk // Dawn, you might be right that Explosives is generally better. I was thinking it might be good against midrange creature decks like Merfolk, Eldrazi, maybe Jund? If there was a sweeper that hit all creatures with power 2 or greater it would be perfect.
Just wanted to mention,dont know if it already has been, under your description of walkers at the beginning of the primer you have karn as a walker that ultimates the turn it comes out,it does not sadly,it comes into play with 6 counter's on it which then double to 12,where karns ultimate is 14. Ugin on the other hand fits the bill.
What do people think about Djeru, with Eyes Open (bad translation)? I think 5 mana is probably asking too much, but he's pretty decent card advantage and a must-kill for the opponent if they're trying to take out our walkers. He dies to Lightning Bolt, but never to Fatal Push, at least. Especially strong with Jace, Architect of Thought's +1. I think the question is, does this deck want a toolbox card? I think of Chandra, Flamecaller, Elspeth, Sun's Champion, and Gideon Jura as sort of the "turn the game around" type of cards if you draw them at a critical moment. Would maybe a 1-of wildcard be good?
But just running enough PW's should be good enough to draw into them consistently imho.
I'm still not convinced he's actually worth running, but I'll probably test him out. I think he's probably around the same power level as Thalia's Lancers.
1-2 kikijiki combo
1-2 sliver
1-2 jund
I drew emrakul 7 out of 9 games.. what a luck ~_~
It is probably a better idea to run 4x Thalia's Lancers now over extra copies of PW's in this deck.
Poor Djeru, lost even the ultra-niche role it could have as a PW-tutor creature.
How about Jace, Cunning Castaway? I feel like he definitely has potential. Unfortunately, his +1 won't often be immediately relevant unless you can attack with an exalted Birds of Paradise. It also sucks that he puts himself down to 1 when using his minus ability, but I guess that's what you get for 3 mana. The drawback on the tokens seems negligible to me, since any spell that targets it would likely kill it anyway. And it doesn't trigger on abilities, so Tamiyo, Field Researcher's +1 gets a bit better. Also, just being a token generator at all is great, since it means he has synergy with Doubling Season even if he's in play first.
And if you do have Doubling Season out, oh boy. Jace turns into a malignant amoeba, rapidly splitting in two until there are a million copies. Then each member of the youngest generation can create 2 Illusion tokens. You can also +1 an infinite number of times, allowing you to basically loot into the perfect hand (you don't have to worry about milling because of Emrakul), provided you can connect with at least one creature. Unfortunately he doesn't win the game on the spot, unless you have enough mana left over for a Jace, Architect of Thought and you can do the infinite looting thing. But at least if your opponent board-wipes you can just create an infinite number of 2/2s again on your next turn.
Unfortunately, Jace doesn't really protect himself. 2/2 is a really awkward size in modern, since anything that's attacking is probably bigger, or there are a bunch of them, so it may not be much of an upgrade over Nissa's plant tokens. Jace's only major advantage over Nissa is that he does ultimate immediately off Doubling Season. Nissa's +1 always does something, but Jace's will probably only be relevant half the time at best. As I'm writing this, I'm realizing that Gideon of the Trials may be what we really want, anyway. His new lack of conflict with his past self is a significant upgrade. His +1 protects himself, his middle ability makes a creature that Tamiyo (or new Jace) can interact with, and his "ultimate" randomly hoses weird things like Ad Nauseum.
As for the planeswalkers-being-legendary thing, it is funny that Thalia's Lancers is probably preferable over Djeru, with Eyes Open, as the Lancers survive Bolt and are sturdier in combat. I looked for other cards that care about legendary permanents, and unfortunately there really aren't any. The only two that came close were Reki, the History of Kamigawa, and Yomiji, who Bars the Way.
The other two that are popular choices are Honor-Worn Shaku and Untaidake, the Cloud Keeper not that either is going to be good enough for this deck imo. Untaidake is possible for ramping out walkers, but without a default mana producing mode it can only help cast about a third of the deck and even then you usually need an oath of nissa to be useful plus it enters tapped.
Also, I just remembered that Oath of Nissa is legendary. I can't think of too many situations where you'd want to tutor for Oath with Lancers, but it's an option. But it does mean that Honor-Worn Shaku gets a bit better. I'm wondering if there's some kind of weird ramp deck we could make that basically counts on Shaku basically being a cheaper Thran Dynamo, and ramps us into Karn or Ugin.
On Thummingbird: I think if you want proliferate, Tezzeret's Gambit is your best option, though Thrummingbird isn't bad. If you don't have a Nissa, this deck doesn't have a whole lot to do in turn 2 other than throw down more mana dorks. Playing turn 1 mana dork, turn 2 Thrummingbird, turn 3 Tamiyo, threaten to go ultimate next turn... seems pretty good.
I'm still confused as to why anyone would run Samut in this deck. Her ultimate wins the game, sure, but the same can be said for several other planeswalkers whose other abilities don't suck.
Also, I've been to an FNM and a side event at GP DC, and I figured I'd do a quick report. Round 1 at the GP was quite something...
At the FNM I got the bye round 1. Round 2 I'm up against Skred Red. I easily win the first game, but rounds 2 and 3 I realize I basically have nothing that can deal with Stormbreath Dragon. I manage to kill one with Chandra, Torch of Defiance, but he has another one. Nahiri, Tamiyo, and Gideon are all useless, and he's able to just pick off all my planeswalkers. Ouch.
Round 3 is against mono-white Death and Taxes. He's playing a slightly off-beat build that's running Sword of Light and Shadow. Wow, protection from white again? In a moment of genius, however, I realize Tamiyo can tap down the sword, allowing Nahiri to exile it. This revelation, in part, allows me to win the match.
Round 4 is against Goblins. I win game 1, then go on to lose the next two, although both games are very close. During game 3, I manage to destroy his whole board with help from Engineered Explosives, and Nissa is ready to ultimate next turn, putting me out of Goblin Grenade range. Unfortunately, he topdecks a goblin and has the grenade, so I lose the match.
Round 1 is against Bant Eldrazi, which I consider to be one of my more favorable matchups. Game 1 I fairly quickly get the upper hand with multiple planeswalkers, and despite being only the first round, the guy starts to get pretty noticeably irritated. He seemed like a pretty nice guy at first, but pretty much everything I do gets met with an exasperated "yep", "uh-huh", or "yeah, why not"? When I drop Doubling Season he makes some comment like, "I didn't realize we were playing EDH." I play a second Tamiyo next turn, ult, free Chandra TOD, ult, and I have 6 mana dorks to Lava Axe him death. He's not amused. It doesn't help that the guy next to him is watching our game and tells me he's a big fan of my deck.
Game 2 I get Doubling Season down on turn 3 or 4, but he has two Displacers and a Matter Reshaper. He makes the mistake of not leaving mana up for Displacer when he passes the turn, allowing me to drop Nahiri and attack with Emrakul. Extremely frustrated, he sacks all his lands and goes down to 3, leaving his three beaters. Next turn he attacks with everything, putting me at 4 and threatening lethal next turn, but I have Xenagos, so I make two satyrs and swing for the game. He tells me Xenagos only makes one token, but I remind him of Doubling Season. He slams the chair in when he leaves. Wow. I think of myself as a polite and fairly upbeat person... I guess some people just really hate losing to fringe decks?
Round 2 is against Jund Hollow One. I manage to control the board and win game 1, but the next two games I draw fairly bad hands that get worse after I get Thoughtseized. He also gets Hollow one out on turn 2, and I can't really keep up.
Round 3 is against what looks like Ad Nauseam (scyrlands, Lotus Bloom, Unlife), but is actually Enduring Ideal. Game 1 apparently he draws really badly and I win. Game 2 is pretty drawn-out, I get only one mana dork and he plays Suppression Field. I finally get Nahiri, which I use to kill Unlife and Leyline of Sanctity, allowing me to ult Chandra TOD (which I've gotten up to 10 loyalty; no reason to ult with Leyline out), and kill him with the emblem.
Round 4 we agree to split, but play it out. He's playing Eldrazi Tron, which I consider a fairly favorable matchup. I win game 1 and he wins game 2, both are total blowouts, then game 3, I guess without the pressure of prizes on the line, we each make a couple of mistakes and he ultimately wins, but it's a really messy game.
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Arbor Elf
3 Sylvan Caryatid
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
1 Gideon of the Trials
4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
2 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Gideon Jura
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Doubling Season
2 Blood Moon
3 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Temple Garden
2 Stomping Ground
1 Breeding Pool
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Copperline Gorge
2 Gavony Township
1 Westvale Abbey
5 Forest
2 Blood Moon
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Stony Silence
3 Rest in Peace
2 Worship
2 Path to Exile
Overall, this seems like a good deck, there are very few matches where I go 0-2, and weirdly, the matches I lose often start out with me winning game 1. This is especially odd because I think the deck is pretty difficult to sideboard against.
the Ult' is good but not better than the combo-walkers (Jace, Nahiri, Samut).
Black seems to be the least valuable color for this deck, none of the Black walkers are worth playing here imho.
On the other hand, it gets shut off by Blood Moon, and gets killed by Ghost Quarter, et al.
While the core of the deck is very similar to the original Double Moon Walkers, there are a number of important differences. First, it maindecks 2 copies Worship! It's also playing Utopia Sprawl over Noble Hierarch, which is a little strange, given that it's playing two Tamiyo, Field Researchers, and exalted Birds and plant tokens are usually the best way to draw cards off her.
It also plays 3 copies of both Blood Moon and Doubling Season. That seems a little much to me. Blood Moon does destroy certain decks, but it can be totally dead, and also not a card you want to see multiples of. I'm open to the 3 Doubling Seasons since I haven't tried it, but I've been reasonably happy with 2. I'm a also just a little leery about having so many enchantments, since Oath of Nissa can't get them.
There are only 20 lands, and only 1 of them is a utility land. I run 3 in my build (2 Gavony Township, 1 Westvale Abbey). I can see going down to 1 Township, but Abbey has won me games, or at least pressured the opponent into playing around it. I guess it's less useful if you're cutting mana dorks for Utopia Sprawl, though.
This deck was from August of last year, meaning it didn't have access to Chandra, Torch of Defiance. I think we probably want at least 1 copy to replace Ral Zarek. Nissa, Vital Force is probably the only other planeswalker that didn't exist at the time that's worth running. And both are played in the other decklist (which I can't take too seriously since it's running Deploy the Gatewatch). The only planeswalker that I'm surprised to see not in the list is Elspeth, Sun's Champion.
One thing I just noticed: this deck is actually 62 cards.
Here's my take on this deck:
I don't want to be doing anything on Turn 2 other than playing my second mana dork or Utopia Sprawl, so that I can play Doubling Season on T3. In fact, I don't want to do anything on T3 other than play Doubling Season, so I play 4 copies. I don't want any planeswalkers that don't either win the game on T4 or come down on T3 to help me survive and find the Doubling Season. For me, this deck is not about "playing a kooky fun superfriends deck", it's basically a sideways combo deck that cheats out Emrakul or the opponent's best cards... or both.
Speaking of helping me survive, the cards that make T3 Doubling Season possible also make T2/T3 Madcap Experiment into Platinum Empyrion very easy. I almost always side out the package once I know which hate to bring in.
My version is very streamlined and I find it quite fun:
5 Forest
2 Breeding Pool
2 Temple Garden
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Stomping Ground
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
Mana Makers and Fixers (20)
4 Arbor Elf
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Oath of Nissa
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Doubling Season
Planeswalkers that win with DS (11)
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
Horrific monster to fetch (1)
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Cards that keep me alive (5)
3 Madcap Experiment
2 Platinum Emperion
3 Blood Moon
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Stony Silence
2 Rest in Peace
2 Worship
2 Kor Firewalker
I saw the deck online and looked like a blast. One I saw had a bunch of different walkers but I can see how your streamline could be more constant.
Have you killed yourself with Madcap Experiment into Emrakul, the Aeons Torn?