MTG Salvation

Quote from Bile »

The old astral slide had lightning rift and I think that this deck will be missing a card like that. So I was thinking about a bant version of this deck, to se how Drake heaven will perform, but the black cards are so good that I will just splash blue for the heaven.

What about morph creatures? Akroma, Angel of fury looks good, only that it can't be hardcasted...

Back when Astral Slide and Lightning Rift were Standard legal, I played a R/W/g variation using the green for slight ramp, and Exalted Angel, Akroma, Angel of Fury, and Krosan Beast as my creatures. The rest was utter control in any way possible. I never hard cast Akroma or Exalted; I always played them for the Morph cost then blinked them out when wiping the board.

I'm pondering going back to the R/W/g variation, but recognize it could be the weakest of any variations of an Astral Drift deck.

I’m going with Abzan not only for unearth wich is great. But also wasteland stranglerand tidehollow scullergive you hand distribution and some 2 for one opirtunities. Like blinking a big thing of the opponents and killing a smaller thing. I do not run siege rhino. I prefer running restoration angel as a 4 drop with blade splicer. mainly because blade splicer can be unearthed and resto reuses any etbs effect in the deck. The rhino could be decent side board against burn and Aggro though. Though kitchen finks is also quite nice.

Haven’t played the deck at an fnm yet cause mainly a casual player and intended it to be a casual budget deck but it was to much better than my play group. So now considering going to fnm if I can get the mana to work cause I’m in love with the deck.

Quote from Whispering Empress »

I’m going with Abzan not only for unearth wich is great.

...

That sounds really nice. Do you have a deck list?
Rhinos feel a bit wrong in the SB as there are cheaper resources of life gain with finks, Autumn Knight or even lone missionary and thragtusk. Most of them work also with unearth. But they still can be decent at beat down with drain and big body. They are medium at life gain and medium at beat down.I would say you have to play them MB or none.

Here's my current list


Talking Creatures
I did some testing with Tilling Treefolk instead of Life From The Loam due to the ability to cycle it in and out as well as another body on the field my opponent wanted to get rid of and was not disappointed with it.
Flickerwisp has been a giant pain in the deck, looking forward my thoughts have been towards lands and getting one more in the list, that makes Flickerwisp an easy target for a cut. Looking at possibilities Restoration Angel is something I really want to draw a win or two off the value of my creatures with, I'll be testing a pair of them out next time.
Street Wraith has been an oddball B minus card in the list, while Astral Drift demands its' presence, not quite sold yet, but not sold on cutting any yet either (Damned if you do....).
Birds of Paradise and Noble Hierarch are incredible turn one plays, not to mention the early Astral Drift, but also the ability to keep a two land hand with Eternal Witness to guarantee picking up the Windswept Heath has been a great turn two play.
Siege Rhino was the ringer, I either wanted more or wished it was a Thragtusk, going forward I may replace a Flickerwisp with one, the straight value train with the cleanup step in combat cycle out a Siege Rhino has been amazing, not mentioning the games where you just cast one on turn three and turn four for the game.
Eternal Witness makes this deck sing and dance, if you aren't on four in your list, you should be.
Tidehollow Sculler falls into the same effectiveness and bold play this deck needs, if I could run ten I would.

Talking Sorceries
Edge of Autumn in my testing has been slowly deciding to whittle itself out of the list, unfairly due to the fact you lose so much steam when you cycle it, however as an opener with a Noble Hierarch or Birds of Paradise you can really start to slam down problems onto the battlefield simply due to the plus two mana. Edge of Autumn is also high on my keep as a singleton list for fixing and digging purposes, if I were running a few Flagstones of Trokair my list would run four Edge of Autumn.
Unearth is probably the best card to be printed into modern from horizons. Due to the requirement of only a small creature coming home, two seems fair enough especially with Eternal Witness leading the commotion.
Inquisition of Kozilek while not quite as powerful as Thoughtseize, also doesn't give them back the card like Tidehollow Sculler either. Something grand and explosive like a turn one play using an Inquisition of Kozilek to discard their Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughtseize followed by a Tidehollow Sculler to take the Tarmogoyf or Lightning Bolt makes my day. Definitely wish for more design space to increase these, guess that's what the sideboard is for right?

Talking Instants
Path to Exile is the workhorse of modern, this deck needs more than two, I plan to increase it to three and have another target when I board in Wasteland Strangler.
Abrupt Decay mainboard has been an impressive tool, Eternal Witness just smooths out your need for things when the opponent hasn't robbed you of its' goodness with a Surgical Extraction.

Talking Lands
One of each Temple Garden, Overgrown Tomb and Godless Shrine has been the only mix I've seen necessary, early turns need the untapped lands to power things up, past that you can fetch for a basic or the tapped Scattered Groves if needed, remembering there's only a few basics in the deck against Blood Moon is a high priority. Usually after a fetch or two all the shocklands are on the battlefield, I leave Scattered Groves in the deck to keep a 'live' draw still in the list instead of turn four plus topdecking a Temple Garden for the loss, you have a chance for the cycler to drive you home.

With this list I had a hard time with having enough lands, like I said earlier I really wish I had one more. Flickerwisp has not performed enough to justify a four pack.

My next move is to add the following and remove the following:
-4 Flickerwisp
-1 Siege Rhino
+1 Plains or Swamp (leaning toward Swamp to balance the basics)
+1 Thragtusk
+1 Path to Exile
+2 Restoration Angel

Edit: Forgot my Sideboard

DUDE! Nice find with Tilling Treefolk!

so people haven't been posting on here in awhile however with stoneforge getting printed i feel that the format is prime for the introduction of a new deck like astral drift. my current list is a tad bit different from most of the others on our list but here goes nothing https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/2235283#paper

I agree that now is the time for more fair decks to be played. Best time in years. But that version. Idk. If it works then great, but I'm loving the treefolk plan. That is just insane.
Also the person saying akroma, with morph, was around in the same standard as astral slide. . I believ you may have your time frame messed up. The big white Akroma was in standard while slide was. The red morph angel was in Time Spiral. Could have been dont in extended, but probably not standard... unless I'm missing something

The interaction between cards like Fiend Hunter / Tidehollow Sculler alongside the blink effect of Astral Draft is not to be overlooked. For that reason plus the existence of Unearth in modern is really all you need to decide the proper configuration for this deck. My speculative take, rough draft list:


The sideboard is mostly geared towards switching things up against either Tron or Burn.
Tron: -3 Path, -2 Lands, -1 Wasteland Strangler, -1 Fiend Hunter
+3 Thoughtseize, +2 GQ, +1 Druid's Deliverance, +1 Knight of Autumn
Burn: -1 Fiend Hunter, -1 Druid's Deliverance, -2 Assassin's Trophy, -1 Path to Exile
+1 Knight of Autumn, +1 Obstinate Baloth, +2 Collective Brutality, +1 Lone Missionary

I think not relying too heavily on the graveyard could be good because Jund and UWx can be a problem, and they have easy graveyard hate.

Win Rate at about 55%-60% with this list. Managed to 4-0 an FNM at Channel Fireball LGS sometime ago with a slightly more dated version of the below brew. I made the deck such that it fits to my more control/grindy playstyle. Deck revolves around doing 1:1 trades with cards/gaining incremental advantage, then eventually pulling ahead with witness and drift. Once you have witness and drift on the field, a cycle land in your hand, and a remove spell in GY, it's usually GG from there. Best match ups are mid-range/creature based decks. Challenges include tron, burn, combo. Mull into your Teegs!

• 4 Eternal Witness
  
• 4 Wall of Omens
  
• 1 Kitchen Finks
  
• 1 Restoration Angel
  
• 1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
  
• 1 Knight of Autumn
  
• 1 Thragtusk
  
• 1 Wall of Blossoms
  
• 2 Plague Engineer
  
• 1 Thrun, the Last Troll
  
• 1 Siege Rhino
  
• 3 Astral Drift
  
• 2 Cast Out
  
• 3 Assassin's Trophy
  
• 3 Path to Exile
  
• 1 Eladamri's Call
  
• 1 Barren Moor
  
• 3 Secluded Steppe
  
• 3 Tranquil Thicket
  
• 4 Windswept Heath
  
• 3 Verdant Catacombs
  
• 2 Temple Garden
  
• 2 Overgrown Tomb
  
• 2 Forest
  
• 3 Plains
  
• 1 Swamp
  
• 1 Marsh Flats
  
• 1 Godless Shrine
  
• 2 Life from the Loam
  
• 1 Wrath of God
  
• 1 Winds of Abandon

• 1 Grafdigger's Cage
  
• 1 Tormod's Crypt
  
• 2 Gaddock Teeg
  
• 1 Plague Engineer
  
• 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
  
• 2 Aven Mindcensor
  
• 1 Phyrexian Revoker
  
• 1 Collector Ouphe
  
• 1 Stony Silence
  
• 1 Surgical Extraction
  
• 1 Assassin's Trophy
  
• 1 Weather the Storm
  
• 1 Force of Vigor