So I've been getting into standard quite a bit since Aether Revolt released, and dynavolt is a deck that really caught my eye. So I put together a first version and I am now looking for some feedback and help with it. I play on a bit of a budget so I have skipped out on the gearhulks which does hurt a bit. Based on my performance in the standard showdown I attended last week I would say the deck stands a chance but needs some changes.
There are 3 main things I am personally thinking about right now.
First, should I try to replace the gearhulks with something else? I did pull a kefnet, and a nissa in the amonkhet prerelease weekend. I am not sure about the nissa, but kefnet might work? I might be able to get more kefnets if I trade for the nissa as well. Otherwise Bristling Hydra might be an option? If noting else then maybe as a sideboard creature against control?
How should I do with the shocks? 4 might be too much, so maybe go down to 2? Also, should i switch them out for magma sprays? Trade potential face damage for more effective removal?
Lastly the other cards I am uncertain about is if I should skip 2 anticipate and probably the insult//injuries as well. NIce in some situations but not so general maybe.
Bristling Hydra is a good option. Unfortunately, nothing can replace Gearhulks. But at least Hydra is a solid win condition that's really hard for your opponents to deal with, and another good, clean way to deal with PWs (one of this deck's weakness, you don't want to rely only on Dynavolt activations to kill them). Replace Incendiary Flow with them, since you don't really want to tap-out without a very good reason with this deck, also Magma Spray is just better.
Now that copycat is gone, there's no reason to run Shock over Magma Spray. Run 2-3, and maybe even 1 more on the side if your local meta is packing a lot of aggro.
Insult/Injury is just not a great card to have. Commit/Memory is a lot better for this deck, and it isn't super expensive. Also, switch anticipates for Censor, it's a really impressive card that your opponent is forced to respect, and if nothing else, it'll cycle and give you similar early game interaction than Anticipate would have. It's all about versatility, and for that reason Censor is just better.
Bristling Hydra is a good option. Unfortunately, nothing can replace Gearhulks. But at least Hydra is a solid win condition that's really hard for your opponents to deal with, and another good, clean way to deal with PWs (one of this deck's weakness, you don't want to rely only on Dynavolt activations to kill them). Replace Incendiary Flow with them, since you don't really want to tap-out without a very good reason with this deck, also Magma Spray is just better.
Yeah I agree that there is no true replacement for it, but I will probably try and get my hands on some hydras then. How many would you say? Also I am a bit uncertain about the motivation to remove the incendiary flows. On one hand I agree with you, but on the other hand I really like the ability to either remove something small permanently or deal some damage to the face/walkers.
Now that copycat is gone, there's no reason to run Shock over Magma Spray. Run 2-3, and maybe even 1 more on the side if your local meta is packing a lot of aggro.
Mostly agree here, the only benefit of shock is the ability to hit face/walkers. But with scrapheap scrounger around I will probably go for magma spray.
Insult/Injury is just not a great card to have. Commit/Memory is a lot better for this deck, and it isn't super expensive. Also, switch anticipates for Censor, it's a really impressive card that your opponent is forced to respect, and if nothing else, it'll cycle and give you similar early game interaction than Anticipate would have. It's all about versatility, and for that reason Censor is just better.
I do have 2 censors, so I might try your suggestion and run a 2/2 split to see how they feel. The one thing anticipate got going for it is that it triggers the tower if it is out. But censor is a potential answer to early game aggro which I feel was my most severe problem in the showdown, so I might go for a full switch later. I agree that injury/insult isn't that great. The hope was that it would synergize with the towers and posssibly incendiary flow, to let me go for something like 12+ damage in a turn. But it requires a decent amount of setup and the rest of the time it isn't that great. What is your motivation behind Commit/Memory? Commit feels like an ok counter as it can also deal with annoying permanents, but I am not sure about memory as it potentially helps my opponent as well and requires me to most likely tap out.
I tested with 2 hydras a while back, and it worked out pretty well. The main reason to remove flow is because it has only 2 options in this deck: 1- hit face/walkers (with dynavolt and hydras, you're covered), 2- exile clause (magma spray does it for 1 mana and as instant, not many creatures you want to exile with 3 health anyways).
While on the topic of creatures, I'd advise against playing shielded aether thief on the main. One of the main advantages of a draw-go control deck is that most of your opponent's removal spells are dead cards, that they'll likely side out on g2. By bringing shielded aether thief on g2 and not on g1, you're playing around your opponent's removal.
And Commit/Memory is just really flexible. While not being a real removal spell, it can grant you a lot of tempo. Though I'd rather run another copy of pull from tomorrow and disallow instead of it, those are a bit on the expensive side. And Memory can be good against other control decks with more draw spells or when yours don't show up enough.
I tested with 2 hydras a while back, and it worked out pretty well. The main reason to remove flow is because it has only 2 options in this deck: 1- hit face/walkers (with dynavolt and hydras, you're covered), 2- exile clause (magma spray does it for 1 mana and as instant, not many creatures you want to exile with 3 health anyways).
Hmm, fair enough, I might go for 3 hydras for more consistency, removing the 2 flows and 1 shock for it (and replacing the rest of the shocks with sprays)
Someone in another forum suggested enigma drake, but I think I like the idea of hydra more. The drake will go big rather fast, and can avoid a lot of blockers, but it can't protect itself, and against bigger things it will die if I block (though it can, compared to the hydra, block heart of kiran and Avacyn if needed). Your thoughts?
While on the topic of creatures, I'd advise against playing shielded aether thief on the main. One of the main advantages of a draw-go control deck is that most of your opponent's removal spells are dead cards, that they'll likely side out on g2. By bringing shielded aether thief on g2 and not on g1, you're playing around your opponent's removal.
I have been thinking about how much I actually want the thief in the deck, and I was thinking, do I even want it at all? If I put it in the sideboard, what do I bring it in against? If we are thinking metawise, B/G Constrictor might very well go big so fast that it will only be a chump blocker that also gives an energy, and if they don't go big then it is probably because I have succeeded in keeping them down or they got a bad draw, and at that point how much will he do? Apart from his ability to draw cards which is potentially good. Against Mardu vehicles it might be nice but only against the small things like inspector, the dwarf and scrapheap. At that point it might be worth more to just sideboard in the extra spray as it hits them as well and potentially put a shock or so in the side as well if I am that scared of small aggro? Because against heart of kiran and Avacyn it can't do anything, and against gideon it is just a chump blocker, tho it can block the tokens efficiently I guess. So what do you think, is it even worth to have it in the side then? If zombies become a thing then it might be a decent option I guess since that is more of a swarm with smaller creatures thing, but then just bringing in aoe removal might be better?
And Commit/Memory is just really flexible. While not being a real removal spell, it can grant you a lot of tempo. Though I'd rather run another copy of pull from tomorrow and disallow instead of it, those are a bit on the expensive side. And Memory can be good against other control decks with more draw spells or when yours don't show up enough.
I might be able to get my hands on another pull, the one I have is foiled and I think another guy at the local store has an extra pull, so he might be willing to trade a foiled for two normal ones. Disallow is a bit worse but void shatter should be able to fill it rather decently I feel? A general counter (not as general as disallow tho of course) that can exile scrapheap scroungers cast later in the game and if a colossus deck appears I have something more for it.
Hydra is a lot better than Drake. Drake's evasion is unnecessary since ideally your opponent will have an empty board due to your control spells. And he'll activate your opponent's removal, while Hydra will only get bigger if they try to remove it. I'd suggest going for 2 hydras, but since you don't have gearhulks, maybe 3 is a good idea.
Thief is awesome against aggressive strategies. Sure, if your metagame doesn't see a lot of monoblack aggro or R/B aggro, then maybe you're better off running 2 Confiscation Coup on the SB instead, since it's much better against B/G and Mardu. I still prefer running 3 Thiefs on SB against swarm strategies because AoE removal can only do so much against creatures that can come back from the graveyard (and it usually taps you out), while thief locks one low power creature (or token) while giving you energy to draw or to bolt something. You still need AoE though, but you're better off running both.
Disallow has some very nice options against Walking Ballista and PWs, but Void Shatter works just fine for everything else. It's an ok replacement, but you should priorize getting at least a second Disallow.
So right now I am thinking mostly if I wanna keep the anticipates in the deck, or if I want to replace them with something and if so what.
One option would be to replace them with any combination of negates/essence scatters from the sideboard, which would then open up spots in the side as well.
Another option would be to put the incendiary flows back in, which also opens up sideboard space.
It would also be possible to remove them to put in the spray from the side board and then either keep one anticipate or get rid of it for a shock maybe?
I could also try and just replace one of the anticipates with my Nissa I guess and see how she performs? Or just mix and match above options I guess, like maybe removing them both and putting in one spray and one counterspell or something like that?
So thoughts and such on the deck and replacing the anticipates?
Have you tried Halimar Tidecaller and awaken spells? It's not a perfect replacement for Gearhulk, but at least you can get a 2nd bite at some control cards in addition to introducing another win condition.
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4 Aether Hub
1 Forest
8 Island
2 Lumbering Falls
6 Mountain
1 Spirebluff Canal
Instants 24
4 Anticipate
1 Disallow
2 Essence Scatter
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Negate
1 Pull from Tomorrow
4 Shock
2 Void Shatter
4 Attune with Aether
2 Incendiary Flow
2 Insult / Injury
Artifacts 4
4 Dynavolt Tower
Creatures 2
2 Shielded Aether Thief
2 Essence Scatter
2 Incendiary Flow
3 Natural Obsolescence
2 Negate
2 Radiant Flames
4 Whirler Virtuoso
So I've been getting into standard quite a bit since Aether Revolt released, and dynavolt is a deck that really caught my eye. So I put together a first version and I am now looking for some feedback and help with it. I play on a bit of a budget so I have skipped out on the gearhulks which does hurt a bit. Based on my performance in the standard showdown I attended last week I would say the deck stands a chance but needs some changes.
There are 3 main things I am personally thinking about right now.
First, should I try to replace the gearhulks with something else? I did pull a kefnet, and a nissa in the amonkhet prerelease weekend. I am not sure about the nissa, but kefnet might work? I might be able to get more kefnets if I trade for the nissa as well. Otherwise Bristling Hydra might be an option? If noting else then maybe as a sideboard creature against control?
How should I do with the shocks? 4 might be too much, so maybe go down to 2? Also, should i switch them out for magma sprays? Trade potential face damage for more effective removal?
Lastly the other cards I am uncertain about is if I should skip 2 anticipate and probably the insult//injuries as well. NIce in some situations but not so general maybe.
All feedback and help is appreciated!
Now that copycat is gone, there's no reason to run Shock over Magma Spray. Run 2-3, and maybe even 1 more on the side if your local meta is packing a lot of aggro.
Insult/Injury is just not a great card to have. Commit/Memory is a lot better for this deck, and it isn't super expensive. Also, switch anticipates for Censor, it's a really impressive card that your opponent is forced to respect, and if nothing else, it'll cycle and give you similar early game interaction than Anticipate would have. It's all about versatility, and for that reason Censor is just better.
Yeah I agree that there is no true replacement for it, but I will probably try and get my hands on some hydras then. How many would you say? Also I am a bit uncertain about the motivation to remove the incendiary flows. On one hand I agree with you, but on the other hand I really like the ability to either remove something small permanently or deal some damage to the face/walkers.
Mostly agree here, the only benefit of shock is the ability to hit face/walkers. But with scrapheap scrounger around I will probably go for magma spray.
I do have 2 censors, so I might try your suggestion and run a 2/2 split to see how they feel. The one thing anticipate got going for it is that it triggers the tower if it is out. But censor is a potential answer to early game aggro which I feel was my most severe problem in the showdown, so I might go for a full switch later. I agree that injury/insult isn't that great. The hope was that it would synergize with the towers and posssibly incendiary flow, to let me go for something like 12+ damage in a turn. But it requires a decent amount of setup and the rest of the time it isn't that great. What is your motivation behind Commit/Memory? Commit feels like an ok counter as it can also deal with annoying permanents, but I am not sure about memory as it potentially helps my opponent as well and requires me to most likely tap out.
While on the topic of creatures, I'd advise against playing shielded aether thief on the main. One of the main advantages of a draw-go control deck is that most of your opponent's removal spells are dead cards, that they'll likely side out on g2. By bringing shielded aether thief on g2 and not on g1, you're playing around your opponent's removal.
And Commit/Memory is just really flexible. While not being a real removal spell, it can grant you a lot of tempo. Though I'd rather run another copy of pull from tomorrow and disallow instead of it, those are a bit on the expensive side. And Memory can be good against other control decks with more draw spells or when yours don't show up enough.
Hmm, fair enough, I might go for 3 hydras for more consistency, removing the 2 flows and 1 shock for it (and replacing the rest of the shocks with sprays)
Someone in another forum suggested enigma drake, but I think I like the idea of hydra more. The drake will go big rather fast, and can avoid a lot of blockers, but it can't protect itself, and against bigger things it will die if I block (though it can, compared to the hydra, block heart of kiran and Avacyn if needed). Your thoughts?
I have been thinking about how much I actually want the thief in the deck, and I was thinking, do I even want it at all? If I put it in the sideboard, what do I bring it in against? If we are thinking metawise, B/G Constrictor might very well go big so fast that it will only be a chump blocker that also gives an energy, and if they don't go big then it is probably because I have succeeded in keeping them down or they got a bad draw, and at that point how much will he do? Apart from his ability to draw cards which is potentially good. Against Mardu vehicles it might be nice but only against the small things like inspector, the dwarf and scrapheap. At that point it might be worth more to just sideboard in the extra spray as it hits them as well and potentially put a shock or so in the side as well if I am that scared of small aggro? Because against heart of kiran and Avacyn it can't do anything, and against gideon it is just a chump blocker, tho it can block the tokens efficiently I guess. So what do you think, is it even worth to have it in the side then? If zombies become a thing then it might be a decent option I guess since that is more of a swarm with smaller creatures thing, but then just bringing in aoe removal might be better?
I might be able to get my hands on another pull, the one I have is foiled and I think another guy at the local store has an extra pull, so he might be willing to trade a foiled for two normal ones. Disallow is a bit worse but void shatter should be able to fill it rather decently I feel? A general counter (not as general as disallow tho of course) that can exile scrapheap scroungers cast later in the game and if a colossus deck appears I have something more for it.
Thief is awesome against aggressive strategies. Sure, if your metagame doesn't see a lot of monoblack aggro or R/B aggro, then maybe you're better off running 2 Confiscation Coup on the SB instead, since it's much better against B/G and Mardu. I still prefer running 3 Thiefs on SB against swarm strategies because AoE removal can only do so much against creatures that can come back from the graveyard (and it usually taps you out), while thief locks one low power creature (or token) while giving you energy to draw or to bolt something. You still need AoE though, but you're better off running both.
Disallow has some very nice options against Walking Ballista and PWs, but Void Shatter works just fine for everything else. It's an ok replacement, but you should priorize getting at least a second Disallow.
4 Aether Hub
1 Forest
8 Island
2 Lumbering Falls
6 Mountain
1 Spirebluff Canal
Instants 27
2 Anticipate
4 Censor
1 Disallow
2 Essence Scatter
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Harnessed Lightning
3 Magma Spray
2 Negate
2 Pull from Tomorrow
3 Void Shatter
4 Attune with Aether
Artifacts 4
4 Dynavolt Tower
Creatures 3
3 Bristling Hydra
2 Essence Scatter
2 Incendiary Flow
1 Magma Spray
2 Natural Obsolescence
2 Negate
2 Radiant Flames
4 Whirler Virtuoso
So right now I am thinking mostly if I wanna keep the anticipates in the deck, or if I want to replace them with something and if so what.
One option would be to replace them with any combination of negates/essence scatters from the sideboard, which would then open up spots in the side as well.
Another option would be to put the incendiary flows back in, which also opens up sideboard space.
It would also be possible to remove them to put in the spray from the side board and then either keep one anticipate or get rid of it for a shock maybe?
I could also try and just replace one of the anticipates with my Nissa I guess and see how she performs? Or just mix and match above options I guess, like maybe removing them both and putting in one spray and one counterspell or something like that?
So thoughts and such on the deck and replacing the anticipates?