I won against 2 Merfolks, Affinity and lost to UWR Control. I didn't win a single game by beatdown, just comboing off (probably because I played against a lot of aggro decks).
I still have to experiment with different builds but this list felt more combo oriented than it looks in theory.
A little about individual cards:
Chord of Calling: I was always happy to see it, and had no problems playing it for X = 4 most of the time. Will probably play more in the next iteration
Abrupt Decay: I was awesome in the aggro matchups but it really sucked in the UWR matchup since it basically had no targets and I was stuck with 3 in my hand. I'll probably lower the count to 3 but I still want them in my main because they're so versatile + my meta can have quite a few twins
Scavenging Ooze, Anafenza the Foremost, Orzhov Pontiff: I liked the idea to have a few silver bullets but I boarded them out most of the time. Anafenza was most usefeul out of the 3 since she's rather big and helped me stall the board until I could go off. I'm thinking about moving these guys in my sideboard and playing a few Loxodon Smiters instead to improve the beatdown plan
Anyway, I LOVE this deck. It's so fun to play and it feels really powerful. I believe that with a few improvements this can be Tier 1 material (although maybe it's better to be under the radar to avoid dedicated hate)
@people playing Fauna Shaman - how does she perform? Also, do you play her instead of chord or do you play both?
Also, about the deck's name - I feel this deck should have a new name, not related to pod. I understand that it has quite a few similarities with the old POD, but in essence, this is a different deck.
Maybe we should organise a voting for the name but that's up to Kokusho_of_Lowyn.
Btw. I call mine Kitchen Company
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: BW Tokens, BW Deadguy Ale,RWG Burn, GBW Kitchen Company
I can speak a little to the Fauna Shaman/Chord of Calling question.
Personally, I run 3 copies of Fauna Shaman instead of Chord.
The primary reason for this is: Fauna Shaman gets hit by collected company. Also nice is the fact that she is reusable, and is playable on less mana. In my experience, if she doesn't get answered, she will end the game for you in a matter of 1-2 turns.
As for your silver bullets, I would probably remove them/switch them to the side for a bit more disruption game one. I use Tidehollow Scullers and Fiend Hunters personally. I bring in the beatdown cards (like Smiters and Rancor) from the sideboard games two or three after the opponent brings in all the hate for my combo.
Hey Loodakrawa,
As for your silver bullets, I would probably remove them/switch them to the side for a bit more disruption game one. I use Tidehollow Scullers and Fiend Hunters personally. I bring in the beatdown cards (like Smiters and Rancor) from the sideboard games two or three after the opponent brings in all the hate for my combo.
Ok, I can definitely see the benefits of fauna shaman / repeatable tutors and will try them out.
Tidehollows/Hunters are really a good idea since they're not dead in the majority of matchups. I'll try them out next time!
And what about Yisan? Someone mentioned him a couple of pages ago. Anyone tested him? In theory, he's actually really similar to Fauna Shaman.
So both work as repeatable tutors that can end the game quickly if left unanswered. Both die to basically any removal. Both tap for activation. Both get hit by Collected Company.
Fauna Shaman
PROS:
- Costs 1 less mana, can come down on turn 2 even without dorks
- Activation is only 1 mana
- Can get any creature
CONS:
- You have to discard a creature card for the activation
- Tutored creatures go in hand
Yisan
PROS:
- Puts creatures directly into play
- You don't have to discard a card for activation
CONS:
- 1 more mana to cast
- More mana to activate
- Potentially comes down a turn later
- You must go in CMC order
The fact that Yisan is more mana intensive to activate balances with the fact that he puts creatures directly into play.
For example, in order to get Viscera, Anafenza/Melira and Finks into play you need the same amount of mana (9). With Yisan you just have to do it in order but you don't have to discard cards and don't need any coloured mana except 1 green.
On the other hand, Fauna Shaman can just tutor the specific thing you need. Also Yisan seems like a better topdeck because he doesn't need discard.
If I decide to go with repeatable tutor route, I'll definitely test both.
Thoughts? I'm I forgetting something?
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: BW Tokens, BW Deadguy Ale,RWG Burn, GBW Kitchen Company
I developed a combo-light list and played it in a few events. Here are the results and evolution of the deck.
I am only showing my results in actual events. There's a bunch of playtesting with friends and strangers that goes in-between as well but I did not take notes.
This is the list I started out with. There were tweaks in between events, but for the most part the list looks like this:
I did not take notes on my wins, but I did note down the main reason for my losses.
Event 1 (2-0, split 3-0 prize):
Win vs. Grixis Delver
Win vs. UR Twin
Event 2 (2-0, split 3-0 prize):
Win vs. UWR Twin
Win vs. Abzan
GPT (1-2 drop) I played Abrupt Decay instead of paths this event to try it out.
Lose vs. GR Tron (It is difficult to fight through fatties without path. I combo'd to infinite life g1, but he annihilated my board with 2 Eldrazis and restarted the game with Karn. G2 I died to wurmcoil, Karn, Sundering Titan despite having Stony Silence in play.)
Win vs. Abzan
Lose vs. UWR Control (Angels! The guy drew 2 restoration angels game 1, and 3 of them game 2. Again, not having path sucks).
PPTQ (2-3) I tried out Blood Artist this event.
Win vs. Grixis control
Lose vs. Abzan (I had a game loss for writing 2 spellskites instead of 1, and I drew very poorly against my opponent game 1)
Lose vs. Merfolk (Double Master of Waves w/o drawing chord or pontiff game 1, then getting stuck on 2 lands with my BoP getting vapor snag'd twice + spreading seas on one of my lands + 5 lords on my opponent's side)
Win vs. G/W Hatebears
Lose vs. Bloom Titan (T3 kill g1, killed him g2, and died to two pyroclasm + firespout g3)
After my ridiculous loss to Bloom Titan I realized that playing the combo-light version exposes me to instant death against any fast combo decks.
I decided to move a canonist effect mb and beef up my tron-hate.
Event 3 (2-1)
Win vs. Grixis Delver
Lose vs. Burn (G1 I could not beat his insane draw, G2 finks + scooze saved me, G3 He topdeck skullcrack'd my finks after I already checked his hand with sin collector, and won by exactsies.)
Win vs. Burn
Event 4 (3-0)
Win vs. Grixis Twin
Win vs. UW Control
Win vs. Ad Nauseam
Just some comments:
Moving forward I might swap out the Dauntless Escort for something else. It might be a 4th finks, but drawing multiple finks in the matchups he is bad in is really sad, and he's not super-good in the matchups he is good in as well. I need more games with the Escort to see if stopping a sweeper is worth it. He could easily be a Fulminator Mage as well to stop manlands g1.
I like the md canonist - she gives us a chance against our worst matchups (except for Tron) and is not detrimental in others. I would not have beat my Ad Nauseam opponent G1 without her. We use our mana quite efficiently anyway due to being land-light and keeping mana open for township, chord, and CC so the single-spell clause does not hurt us. She has collateral benefits vs. decks like burn and infect.
I might trade one of the reclamation sages in the sb for something else.
Blood Artist is a trap in lists like mine. You are almost always on the beatdown plan (I have combo'd off to infinite life only twice in all my event-games). I hated drawing him every single time.
Speaking of the beatdown plan, our beatdown plan is amazing because of exalted triggers. Our creatures trade up quite easily with a couple of hierarchs on board. Birds are also great attackers on a clogged board when you give them exalted.
Thanks for reading. Let me know if anyone wants any details on any of the games I played.
Ok so after several testgames by myself here are my opinions on your list:
You play some very random creatures that are only good in specific corner cases, therefore I dislike them in the main. We are just not Pod:
- Canoninst: SB material. Yes it gets you random wins vs storm but most of the time I really wanted to play more than 1 creature a turn.
- Wall of Roots: You said you are beating down most of the time. I´d could it because its bad without pod. I see the value with chord but its not worth it.
- Aven Mindscensor: Same thing as with Canonist + you are playing fetches, too.
- Dauntless Escort is cool. I haven´t tested him myself but it feels a bit... strange. Dont know yet but a possible cut
- Pontiff main is ok if your meta is much delver and affinity style of decks. Otherwise SB, too.
Furtheremore I dislike that you are playing 8 mana dorks, but also 23 Lands. Personally, Im at 22 lands and 6 Dorks and it works very fine. Keep in mind that you are only playing 28 creatures. 8 are dorks so 20 real creatures. I guess most of the time you company into a dork and another creature, right?
My suggest would be to cut down a bit on either land/and/or manadorks for more maindeck material.
So, if you are going to play a combo lite list, I´d consider playing Anafenza instead of melira. Sure she gives you random wins via Infect and BLinkmoths but thats what spellskite is doing also most of the time. While beating down Anafenza is just superior.
What I like about your list:
It seems like you are going heavy on playing with chord. Thats the only reason for me for the upped landcount and dorks. But I guess there are things that are getting worse because of that. However, there are definitely some upsides, but I dislike chord atm without a dedicate combo approach.
The split between Ooze, Qasali, and Voice is definitely a good choice. I like this setup, too, and it worked out for me really well.
All in all: If someone is playing a list with low combopieces I highly recommend that you should play some high power beef like goyf, rhino, knight, etc. Otherwise you are just an inferior bgx. I also like Reveillark.
Thank you for taking the time to test out my list. It is much appreciated.
You make very good points, thank you! I will mull over them and tweak my deck for next week's events with your feedback in mind.
Here are my thoughts on what you have said.
Canonist is great vs. Bloom, Infect, Burn, and Ad Nauseam. I agree that she would probably be better in the sb. The one-of in the MD is for testing, as I auto-lose to dedicated combo decks like bloom and ad nauseam g1.
Agree with wall of roots.
As Stuhl has pointed out, mindcensor is not symetrical. I would have to disagree with you on mindcensor as he's our only hedge against tron and bloom which are horrendous matchups, and he's pretty good as a beater too. I don't think he is leaving the maindeck any time soon.
Agree with Dauntless Escort.
For pontiff, do you not like him against lingering souls? Abzan is a pretty popular deck. The CC deck is also getting popular and he kills dorks well. I agree that he is pretty bad vs the rest of the field.
I think 22 lands and 6 dorks might be too low. I have many games where I am sitting on 2-3 lands the entire time, leaning on dorks for mana. Maybe some number in between is ideal, like 23 lands and 6 dorks.
I like the current split between ooze/pridemage/voice too and their numbers are not changing for me.
I like your suggestion to increase the beef count. Rhino might not be great because of CC, but I like the idea of testing some number of goyfs and knights. Lark might not be so good without pod to dump her in the yard.
Hi guys. Playing Maverick in legacy always made me want to play a similar deck in modern. Finally that direction seems opened!
Anyway:
Speaking of the beatdown plan, our beatdown plan is amazing because of exalted triggers. Our creatures trade up quite easily with a couple of hierarchs on board. Birds are also great attackers on a clogged board when you give them exalted.
I played some games using the combo (in fact I played Max Brown's list) against Scapeshift, Twin and Jund. I wasn't able to establish the combo in any game... but I hated it to have these weaker combo pieces (Seer, Melira) in hand...
Also the Flickerwisps are beautiful in theory, but get bolted/electrolyzed in reality...
Also, having only 4 CCs at cmc4 to "randomly" answer Combos (i.e. Twin) is very annoying... I think one wants at least some stuff like Decay/Path...
In know, it's not really "POD-less POD" without that combo, but now I try to build a deck with Voices/Knights/Finks/Mindcensors/Smiters/Oozes/some kinky one offs like Skites/Pridemage/Fauna Shaman in addition with some CCs/Chords/Decays/Paths. I try to keep the creature count at at least 27. Played some games on modo I can say that Fauna Shaman really does things! If he's active you can answer a lot. I.e. getting Mindcensor and play him instant speed. Knights in modern more play the role of beaters. But getting Tec Edges to double (maybe even tiple) Edge the opponent is nice and grows them. Bojuka Bog, Canopy, Township, Stirring Wildwood are also great targets. Always trying to fetch 2 times before playing him. Smiters are just there to put something into game against blue/red decks and beat Abzan. It's a dumb creature in general, but sometimes not having to think is an advantage.
Voices/Finks are just value, too!
Collected Company mainly is there to get a creature advantage. Playing it after a board sweeper or when you need pressure it's beautiful.
Chord of calling will never be a Zenith but modern games tend to be very long and griny, so having 5+ lands in game is not a rarity. In addition with creatures chording for 2+ occurs very often. Getting Skite/Pridemage/Mindcensor is really nice.
Also I'm trying Dromoka's Command (currently as a one off, more in SB) as an additional/flexible removal spell.
One of the main reasons of having problems/losing is when the mana dork gets bolted...
Having 3 mana on turn 2 (and 4 on T3) is often really important...
Well, maybe that's the wrong thread but somehow it's not really Hatebears nor POD (lack of combo), it's more something in between.
I like your list, even though it has no combo in. Looking this thread from far behind (as I am building and focusing on an other deck at the moment) I feel like lists posted here often overlooks the beatdown aspect.
The philiosophy behind these types of deck should be to threaten the opponent under multiple angles. If he/she does not tap out to kill your threats, he/she is dead. If he/she taps out, he/she is dead anyway with your combo.
On the other thread I am writing on a naya deck focused around chord of calling and kotr, I wrote this:
knight of the reliquary: As said before, she has it all [ramp, land tutor, beater, deck thining]. Lands I tutor with her are:
1.Sejiri steppe: to protect her, for combo protection or just to give the final blow with a protected attacking creature;
2.gavony township: pump the team in grindy match up;
3.kessig wolf run: because sometimes, you just need to trample over;
4.fire-lit thicket:to play consistently kiki-jiki, a filter land is a must have;
5.ghost quarter: in the sideboard, for the tron, infect and affinity match ups.
To add to my previous post on knight of the reliquary: in an abzan shell, you could use twilight mire (instead of fire-lit thicket in my naya shell) and you will significantly improve the landing of garza's assassin and the like.
Playing a tournament this Sunday, having the option of going either Abzan Liege or Kitchen Company. Still did not get my Voice of Resurgence (on their way though) and I think this card is quite critical to the Liege strategy. So I'm thinking of bringing:
Any thoughts / tips / tricks / recommendations? All the advice will be much appreciated since it will be the first time I bring this deck to a tournament
There's no justification for running 2 pridemages main that I can see. A combo heavy list split first in a local Modern event, beating Twin, narset combo, and mill. I also split first playing bant blink, beating uwr control, delver, and narset combo.
I've been reading this topic for a few weeks as I've brewed on my own. My work with the deck got me to top 8 at SCG states where I punted the quarters with on board lethal. Personally, I'm playing a hard combo glass cannon build, mostly because I've just never liked the aggro versions. I'm working on a report now, and there are definitely some changes I'm looking at, largely in the sideboard.
There's no justification for running 2 pridemages main that I can see. A combo heavy list split first in a local Modern event, beating Twin, narset combo, and mill. I also split first playing bant blink, beating uwr control, delver, and narset combo.
I'm thinking the same, keeping them in the sideboard for now. Any other recommendations you have for the list?
I agree with Muten Yoshi on this one.
I want at least one Pridemage main. Almost every deck has at least one enchantment/artifact you will want to deal with. And, if nothing else, he is an exalted trigger AND discard fodder for Fauna Shaman.
Speaking of shaman. I still think that Chord of Calling is probably wrong for this deck. It's just not a creature. Why run it when you can run a creature that does the same thing? Then, by removing the chord, you can reduce your land/dork count (I'm only running 25 total) for a few more creatures to improve your odds/options with company.
A second order effect here is that you probably dont want to run KOTR if you reduce the lands.
Chord gives you something to scry to when you don't have four mana. It's also another instant speed form of interaction. I was the one who originally suggested Fauna Shaman, and I run both.
Qasali is by no means mandatory. If you have the room for him he's fine, but he's worse than every other card in the main in most meta games. I would certainly never run more than one in the 75. I assume that was suggested because he didn't have access to voices, but just costing the same mana does not make it a valid replacement.
See. I get the instant speed interaction thing with chord (though shaman is pseudo instant speed), but saying it gives you something to scry for when you don't have four mana?
Fauna Shaman runs off much less than four mana...while chord does nothing with only three mana unless you have creatures out.
Plus chord is anti-synergistic with company. So even if it were slightly better overall than Shaman (I think they're probably about even) I think shaman wins since we run a playset of company. No?
Playing a tournament this Sunday, having the option of going either Abzan Liege or Kitchen Company. Still did not get my Voice of Resurgence (on their way though) and I think this card is quite critical to the Liege strategy. So I'm thinking of bringing:
Any thoughts / tips / tricks / recommendations? All the advice will be much appreciated since it will be the first time I bring this deck to a tournament
I'd personally trade the positions of the maindeck Reclamation Sage and 1 sideboard Qasali Pridemage (i.e. maindeck 1 Pridemage instead of Rec Sage, then put Rec Sage in the board). Pridemage is so, so much better than Rec Sage when neither of them have any targets maindeck, and Pridemage can also hose Twin and possibly force removal out of their hand (while all Rec Sage can do against Twin are get cheated in in response to the combo, bean opposing Spellskite, and bean sideboard artifacts).
I'm normally a big proponent of maindecking a creature that can deal with Scavenging Ooze that's 3 cmc or less, but I think 3 Abrupt Decays are barely enough to contain Ooze by themselves (as opposed to 2 Decays, which are 1 shy of my tastes).
I agree with Muten Yoshi on this one.
I want at least one Pridemage main. Almost every deck has at least one enchantment/artifact you will want to deal with. And, if nothing else, he is an exalted trigger AND discard fodder for Fauna Shaman.
Speaking of shaman. I still think that Chord of Calling is probably wrong for this deck. It's just not a creature. Why run it when you can run a creature that does the same thing? Then, by removing the chord, you can reduce your land/dork count (I'm only running 25 total) for a few more creatures to improve your odds/options with company.
A second order effect here is that you probably dont want to run KOTR if you reduce the lands.
See. I get the instant speed interaction thing with chord (though shaman is pseudo instant speed), but saying it gives you something to scry for when you don't have four mana?
Fauna Shaman runs off much less than four mana...while chord does nothing with only three mana unless you have creatures out.
Plus chord is anti-synergistic with company. So even if it were slightly better overall than Shaman (I think they're probably about even) I think shaman wins since we run a playset of company. No?
Assuming infinite Bolster with Anafenza + Melira + Finks + Seer doesn't kill that turn (say RG Tron has 2 blockers) when you Scry for the missing one of Anafenza/Melira, Chord can cheat in Murderous Redcap if you have only 3 lands and no mana dorks but 4 other creatures (or access to 4 mana and 3 creatures but not double black). Fauna Shaman will not save you that turn in the same situation (we'll assume you have to Scry for one of Chord/Fauna).
I've tried Fauna Shaman in a fast combo build as a 2-of, and I'm actually ambivalent about its performance. I run out of creatures in hand surprisingly quickly (22 lands and 3 Collected Company, 2 Commune with Nature, and 1 Chord do gum up chances), and Fauna usually searches for hate bears and missing combo pieces (i.e. it sits around not searching for surprisingly long periods of time). It hurts that I don't run Eternal Witness in that build (oh man I wish I had room for her), and it also hurts that the build's best grindy creature is Scavenging Ooze.
I keep thinking that Fauna Shaman + 2 or more Tidehollow Sculler is a good idea (it's hard to find room for 2 Scullers in this deck). Slamming down Scullers for consecutive turns shreds hands really hard.
Having four creatures (including a sac outlet and a bilster creature) and only three open mana to chord for the win this turn seems like a really narrow and unreliable case to me. How often in actual games does our opponent even let us assemble that?
I would much rather be able to turn every topdeck creature into whatever creature I want for one green. It makes mana dorks and dryad arbor much better topdecks in the late game.
It may help that I actually am running two Tidehollow acullers main. I don't run any communes or chords. And I run three shamans. She even turns multiples of herself into combo pieces.
Having four creatures (including a sac outlet and a bilster creature) and only three open mana to chord for the win this turn seems like a really narrow and unreliable case to me. How often in actual games does our opponent even let us assemble that?
I would much rather be able to turn every topdeck creature into whatever creature I want for one green. It makes mana dorks and dryad arbor much better topdecks in the late game.
It may help that I actually am running two Tidehollow acullers main. I don't run any communes or chords. And I run three shamans. She even turns multiples of herself into combo pieces.
I've had "Melira"-Seer-Finks and either 3 or less mana or no double black a tad too often. I've got to break my bad habit of Scrying for the 4th land whenever that comes up. Chord WILL win some of those corner cases (heck, there are probably also some when I also don't have double white for Spirit Anafenza).
Fauna Shaman and Congregation at Dawn are actually surprisingly comparable. Neither of them generate card advantage while they tutor--CaD incurs card disadvantage, and Fauna Shaman is only at card parity if you count her body. Both of them essentially turn your next few topdecks into whichever creatures you want (although Fauna is less telegraphed, she needs creature card fuel). CaD combos with Collected Company to combo win out of nowhere (like you can keep Collected Company in hand long enough to pull that off), while Fauna Shaman can continuously spam the one combo piece your opponent keeps removing.
I guess Fauna Shaman wins that comparison because you can cheat her in with Collected Company, which compensates for her more unreliable search (yes, she is more unreliable search from my experience).
(I haven't even covered Fauna Shaman possibly luring removal--although luring removal is really fun, that does mean she can't tutor in that game. CaD never bites it to removal.)
Hmm. Good thoughts. I personally think that congregation is bad too.
But we disagree for now on Chord vs. Shaman.
That's fine. I'll keep running my current deck (and if I get fed up with Shaman, I'll exchange her for chord.)
For the short time I was running chord though, I wasn't too impressed with it.
Shaman isn't bad but not as good as you see it. If you don't like chord I think that you play it bad, chord lets you bait and stall 1 removal spell, or let's say you just ignore it when already have two combo pieces on board.
If he cast the removal then in response , you attempt to go off.
Now, all the shaman fans look how going your route in this scenario all you can get is a sorcery speed play.
Hells, With shaman you lose all the plays that involve any surprise effect.
Recently won a game vs melforks by being able to chord, I was at very low life and he attacked me with a huge board of manlands, a lord, a master and some tokens... having access to pontiff instant speed and a sacr outlet on board let me screw all his board instead of just dying.
Btw, play sorcery speed if that makes you happy
I haven't tested Chord at all yet, but grabbing any card I want is pretty nice, and costs one mana. For me fauana has been an all star. However; I will be trying out chord next Modern day at my store so ill let you know if my feelings change on that, since I do see you point on the instant speed side of things.
Since I saw Collected Company spoiled I wanted to build this deck. I finally managed to put it together and go to a tournament.
I went 3:1 with the following list:
4 Windswept Heath
3 Marsh Flats
4 Razorverge Thicket
2 Temple Garden
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Godless Shrine
2 Gavony Township
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
Spells (10)
4 Collected Company
2 Chord of Calling
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Voice of Resurgence
2 Viscera Seer
2 Cartel Aristocrat
2 Melira,Sylvok Outcast
2 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Eternal Witness
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Quasali Pridemage
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
1 Orzhov Pontiff
2 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Choke
2 Path to Exile
2 Kor Firewalker
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Sin Collector
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
I won against 2 Merfolks, Affinity and lost to UWR Control. I didn't win a single game by beatdown, just comboing off (probably because I played against a lot of aggro decks).
I still have to experiment with different builds but this list felt more combo oriented than it looks in theory.
A little about individual cards:
Chord of Calling: I was always happy to see it, and had no problems playing it for X = 4 most of the time. Will probably play more in the next iteration
Abrupt Decay: I was awesome in the aggro matchups but it really sucked in the UWR matchup since it basically had no targets and I was stuck with 3 in my hand. I'll probably lower the count to 3 but I still want them in my main because they're so versatile + my meta can have quite a few twins
Scavenging Ooze, Anafenza the Foremost, Orzhov Pontiff: I liked the idea to have a few silver bullets but I boarded them out most of the time. Anafenza was most usefeul out of the 3 since she's rather big and helped me stall the board until I could go off. I'm thinking about moving these guys in my sideboard and playing a few Loxodon Smiters instead to improve the beatdown plan
Anyway, I LOVE this deck. It's so fun to play and it feels really powerful. I believe that with a few improvements this can be Tier 1 material (although maybe it's better to be under the radar to avoid dedicated hate)
@people playing Fauna Shaman - how does she perform? Also, do you play her instead of chord or do you play both?
Also, about the deck's name - I feel this deck should have a new name, not related to pod. I understand that it has quite a few similarities with the old POD, but in essence, this is a different deck.
Maybe we should organise a voting for the name but that's up to Kokusho_of_Lowyn.
Btw. I call mine Kitchen Company
Nice deck list.
I can speak a little to the Fauna Shaman/Chord of Calling question.
Personally, I run 3 copies of Fauna Shaman instead of Chord.
The primary reason for this is: Fauna Shaman gets hit by collected company. Also nice is the fact that she is reusable, and is playable on less mana. In my experience, if she doesn't get answered, she will end the game for you in a matter of 1-2 turns.
As for your silver bullets, I would probably remove them/switch them to the side for a bit more disruption game one. I use Tidehollow Scullers and Fiend Hunters personally. I bring in the beatdown cards (like Smiters and Rancor) from the sideboard games two or three after the opponent brings in all the hate for my combo.
Ok, I can definitely see the benefits of fauna shaman / repeatable tutors and will try them out.
Tidehollows/Hunters are really a good idea since they're not dead in the majority of matchups. I'll try them out next time!
And what about Yisan? Someone mentioned him a couple of pages ago. Anyone tested him? In theory, he's actually really similar to Fauna Shaman.
So both work as repeatable tutors that can end the game quickly if left unanswered. Both die to basically any removal. Both tap for activation. Both get hit by Collected Company.
Fauna Shaman
PROS:
- Costs 1 less mana, can come down on turn 2 even without dorks
- Activation is only 1 mana
- Can get any creature
CONS:
- You have to discard a creature card for the activation
- Tutored creatures go in hand
Yisan
PROS:
- Puts creatures directly into play
- You don't have to discard a card for activation
CONS:
- 1 more mana to cast
- More mana to activate
- Potentially comes down a turn later
- You must go in CMC order
The fact that Yisan is more mana intensive to activate balances with the fact that he puts creatures directly into play.
For example, in order to get Viscera, Anafenza/Melira and Finks into play you need the same amount of mana (9). With Yisan you just have to do it in order but you don't have to discard cards and don't need any coloured mana except 1 green.
On the other hand, Fauna Shaman can just tutor the specific thing you need. Also Yisan seems like a better topdeck because he doesn't need discard.
If I decide to go with repeatable tutor route, I'll definitely test both.
Thoughts? I'm I forgetting something?
I am only showing my results in actual events. There's a bunch of playtesting with friends and strangers that goes in-between as well but I did not take notes.
This is the list I started out with. There were tweaks in between events, but for the most part the list looks like this:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Viscera Seer
1 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Spellskite
1 Wall of Roots
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Voice of Resurgence
1 Eternal Witness
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Sin Collector
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Path to Exile
3 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
Lands (23)
1 Godless Shrine
1 Marsh Flats
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
2 Forest
3 Gavony Township
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
2 Thoughtseize
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Kor Firewalker
1 Spellskite
2 Stony Silence
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Sin Collector
2 Choke
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
I played 3 weekday events and a GPT and a PPTQ.
I did not take notes on my wins, but I did note down the main reason for my losses.
Event 1 (2-0, split 3-0 prize):
Win vs. Grixis Delver
Win vs. UR Twin
Event 2 (2-0, split 3-0 prize):
Win vs. UWR Twin
Win vs. Abzan
GPT (1-2 drop) I played Abrupt Decay instead of paths this event to try it out.
Lose vs. GR Tron (It is difficult to fight through fatties without path. I combo'd to infinite life g1, but he annihilated my board with 2 Eldrazis and restarted the game with Karn. G2 I died to wurmcoil, Karn, Sundering Titan despite having Stony Silence in play.)
Win vs. Abzan
Lose vs. UWR Control (Angels! The guy drew 2 restoration angels game 1, and 3 of them game 2. Again, not having path sucks).
PPTQ (2-3) I tried out Blood Artist this event.
Win vs. Grixis control
Lose vs. Abzan (I had a game loss for writing 2 spellskites instead of 1, and I drew very poorly against my opponent game 1)
Lose vs. Merfolk (Double Master of Waves w/o drawing chord or pontiff game 1, then getting stuck on 2 lands with my BoP getting vapor snag'd twice + spreading seas on one of my lands + 5 lords on my opponent's side)
Win vs. G/W Hatebears
Lose vs. Bloom Titan (T3 kill g1, killed him g2, and died to two pyroclasm + firespout g3)
After my ridiculous loss to Bloom Titan I realized that playing the combo-light version exposes me to instant death against any fast combo decks.
I decided to move a canonist effect mb and beef up my tron-hate.
This brings me to the latest list I am playing:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Cartel Aristocrat
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Spellskite
1 Wall of Roots
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Voice of Resurgence
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Dauntless Escort
1 Eternal Witness
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Sin Collector
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Path to Exile
3 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
Lands (23)
1 Godless Shrine
1 Marsh Flats
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
2 Forest
2 Overgrown Tomb
3 Gavony Township
3 Razorverge Thicket
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
4 Thoughtseize
1 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Kor Firewalker
2 Reclamation Sage
2 Choke
4 Fulminator Mage
I played 2 more weekday events with this list.
Event 3 (2-1)
Win vs. Grixis Delver
Lose vs. Burn (G1 I could not beat his insane draw, G2 finks + scooze saved me, G3 He topdeck skullcrack'd my finks after I already checked his hand with sin collector, and won by exactsies.)
Win vs. Burn
Event 4 (3-0)
Win vs. Grixis Twin
Win vs. UW Control
Win vs. Ad Nauseam
Just some comments:
Moving forward I might swap out the Dauntless Escort for something else. It might be a 4th finks, but drawing multiple finks in the matchups he is bad in is really sad, and he's not super-good in the matchups he is good in as well. I need more games with the Escort to see if stopping a sweeper is worth it. He could easily be a Fulminator Mage as well to stop manlands g1.
I like the md canonist - she gives us a chance against our worst matchups (except for Tron) and is not detrimental in others. I would not have beat my Ad Nauseam opponent G1 without her. We use our mana quite efficiently anyway due to being land-light and keeping mana open for township, chord, and CC so the single-spell clause does not hurt us. She has collateral benefits vs. decks like burn and infect.
I might trade one of the reclamation sages in the sb for something else.
Blood Artist is a trap in lists like mine. You are almost always on the beatdown plan (I have combo'd off to infinite life only twice in all my event-games). I hated drawing him every single time.
Speaking of the beatdown plan, our beatdown plan is amazing because of exalted triggers. Our creatures trade up quite easily with a couple of hierarchs on board. Birds are also great attackers on a clogged board when you give them exalted.
Thanks for reading. Let me know if anyone wants any details on any of the games I played.
Modern: Jund Legacy: RUG Delver EDH: Captain Sisay
Thank you for taking the time to test out my list. It is much appreciated.
You make very good points, thank you! I will mull over them and tweak my deck for next week's events with your feedback in mind.
Here are my thoughts on what you have said.
Canonist is great vs. Bloom, Infect, Burn, and Ad Nauseam. I agree that she would probably be better in the sb. The one-of in the MD is for testing, as I auto-lose to dedicated combo decks like bloom and ad nauseam g1.
Agree with wall of roots.
As Stuhl has pointed out, mindcensor is not symetrical. I would have to disagree with you on mindcensor as he's our only hedge against tron and bloom which are horrendous matchups, and he's pretty good as a beater too. I don't think he is leaving the maindeck any time soon.
Agree with Dauntless Escort.
For pontiff, do you not like him against lingering souls? Abzan is a pretty popular deck. The CC deck is also getting popular and he kills dorks well. I agree that he is pretty bad vs the rest of the field.
I think 22 lands and 6 dorks might be too low. I have many games where I am sitting on 2-3 lands the entire time, leaning on dorks for mana. Maybe some number in between is ideal, like 23 lands and 6 dorks.
I like the current split between ooze/pridemage/voice too and their numbers are not changing for me.
I like your suggestion to increase the beef count. Rhino might not be great because of CC, but I like the idea of testing some number of goyfs and knights. Lark might not be so good without pod to dump her in the yard.
Modern: Jund Legacy: RUG Delver EDH: Captain Sisay
I like your list, even though it has no combo in. Looking this thread from far behind (as I am building and focusing on an other deck at the moment) I feel like lists posted here often overlooks the beatdown aspect.
The philiosophy behind these types of deck should be to threaten the opponent under multiple angles. If he/she does not tap out to kill your threats, he/she is dead. If he/she taps out, he/she is dead anyway with your combo.
So the 4 knight of the reliquary look like the real deal here.
On the other thread I am writing on a naya deck focused around chord of calling and kotr, I wrote this:
knight of the reliquary: As said before, she has it all [ramp, land tutor, beater, deck thining]. Lands I tutor with her are:
1.Sejiri steppe: to protect her, for combo protection or just to give the final blow with a protected attacking creature;
2.gavony township: pump the team in grindy match up;
3.kessig wolf run: because sometimes, you just need to trample over;
4.fire-lit thicket:to play consistently kiki-jiki, a filter land is a must have;
5.ghost quarter: in the sideboard, for the tron, infect and affinity match ups.
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Noble Hierarch
2 Viscera Seer
3 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
2 Cartel Aristocrat
2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Spellskite
3 Tarmogoyf
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Eternal Witness
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Murderous Redcap
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
Lands (22)
3 Forest
2 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Swamp
2 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Choke
2 Stony Silence
1 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Kor Firewalker
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Spellskite
3 Thoughtseize
Any thoughts / tips / tricks / recommendations? All the advice will be much appreciated since it will be the first time I bring this deck to a tournament
I stream Modern events semi-regularly at http://www.twitch.tv/nezeru
List: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=82950
I'm thinking the same, keeping them in the sideboard for now. Any other recommendations you have for the list?
I want at least one Pridemage main. Almost every deck has at least one enchantment/artifact you will want to deal with. And, if nothing else, he is an exalted trigger AND discard fodder for Fauna Shaman.
Speaking of shaman. I still think that Chord of Calling is probably wrong for this deck. It's just not a creature. Why run it when you can run a creature that does the same thing? Then, by removing the chord, you can reduce your land/dork count (I'm only running 25 total) for a few more creatures to improve your odds/options with company.
A second order effect here is that you probably dont want to run KOTR if you reduce the lands.
Qasali is by no means mandatory. If you have the room for him he's fine, but he's worse than every other card in the main in most meta games. I would certainly never run more than one in the 75. I assume that was suggested because he didn't have access to voices, but just costing the same mana does not make it a valid replacement.
I stream Modern events semi-regularly at http://www.twitch.tv/nezeru
Fauna Shaman runs off much less than four mana...while chord does nothing with only three mana unless you have creatures out.
Plus chord is anti-synergistic with company. So even if it were slightly better overall than Shaman (I think they're probably about even) I think shaman wins since we run a playset of company. No?
I'd personally trade the positions of the maindeck Reclamation Sage and 1 sideboard Qasali Pridemage (i.e. maindeck 1 Pridemage instead of Rec Sage, then put Rec Sage in the board). Pridemage is so, so much better than Rec Sage when neither of them have any targets maindeck, and Pridemage can also hose Twin and possibly force removal out of their hand (while all Rec Sage can do against Twin are get cheated in in response to the combo, bean opposing Spellskite, and bean sideboard artifacts).
I'm normally a big proponent of maindecking a creature that can deal with Scavenging Ooze that's 3 cmc or less, but I think 3 Abrupt Decays are barely enough to contain Ooze by themselves (as opposed to 2 Decays, which are 1 shy of my tastes).
Assuming infinite Bolster with Anafenza + Melira + Finks + Seer doesn't kill that turn (say RG Tron has 2 blockers) when you Scry for the missing one of Anafenza/Melira, Chord can cheat in Murderous Redcap if you have only 3 lands and no mana dorks but 4 other creatures (or access to 4 mana and 3 creatures but not double black). Fauna Shaman will not save you that turn in the same situation (we'll assume you have to Scry for one of Chord/Fauna).
I've tried Fauna Shaman in a fast combo build as a 2-of, and I'm actually ambivalent about its performance. I run out of creatures in hand surprisingly quickly (22 lands and 3 Collected Company, 2 Commune with Nature, and 1 Chord do gum up chances), and Fauna usually searches for hate bears and missing combo pieces (i.e. it sits around not searching for surprisingly long periods of time). It hurts that I don't run Eternal Witness in that build (oh man I wish I had room for her), and it also hurts that the build's best grindy creature is Scavenging Ooze.
I keep thinking that Fauna Shaman + 2 or more Tidehollow Sculler is a good idea (it's hard to find room for 2 Scullers in this deck). Slamming down Scullers for consecutive turns shreds hands really hard.
Having four creatures (including a sac outlet and a bilster creature) and only three open mana to chord for the win this turn seems like a really narrow and unreliable case to me. How often in actual games does our opponent even let us assemble that?
I would much rather be able to turn every topdeck creature into whatever creature I want for one green. It makes mana dorks and dryad arbor much better topdecks in the late game.
It may help that I actually am running two Tidehollow acullers main. I don't run any communes or chords. And I run three shamans. She even turns multiples of herself into combo pieces.
I've had "Melira"-Seer-Finks and either 3 or less mana or no double black a tad too often. I've got to break my bad habit of Scrying for the 4th land whenever that comes up. Chord WILL win some of those corner cases (heck, there are probably also some when I also don't have double white for Spirit Anafenza).
Fauna Shaman and Congregation at Dawn are actually surprisingly comparable. Neither of them generate card advantage while they tutor--CaD incurs card disadvantage, and Fauna Shaman is only at card parity if you count her body. Both of them essentially turn your next few topdecks into whichever creatures you want (although Fauna is less telegraphed, she needs creature card fuel). CaD combos with Collected Company to combo win out of nowhere (like you can keep Collected Company in hand long enough to pull that off), while Fauna Shaman can continuously spam the one combo piece your opponent keeps removing.
I guess Fauna Shaman wins that comparison because you can cheat her in with Collected Company, which compensates for her more unreliable search (yes, she is more unreliable search from my experience).
(I haven't even covered Fauna Shaman possibly luring removal--although luring removal is really fun, that does mean she can't tutor in that game. CaD never bites it to removal.)
But we disagree for now on Chord vs. Shaman.
That's fine. I'll keep running my current deck (and if I get fed up with Shaman, I'll exchange her for chord.)
For the short time I was running chord though, I wasn't too impressed with it.
I haven't tested Chord at all yet, but grabbing any card I want is pretty nice, and costs one mana. For me fauana has been an all star. However; I will be trying out chord next Modern day at my store so ill let you know if my feelings change on that, since I do see you point on the instant speed side of things.
I stream Modern events semi-regularly at http://www.twitch.tv/nezeru