There are three things I am hoping to accomplish with this thread:
First- I would like for all those players who enjoy playing Simic as their first choice of guild to give a shout out and declare- their simic leanings. So if you are a Simic Guild fan and have it in your signature line or just prefer simic, but play lots of different colors and combinations then please post and let everyone knoow who you are.
Second- I would love to know what card or deck led to you settling on Simic as your guild preference out of all the guilds and other combinations out there. I know for me it was the card Master Biomancer I loved everything about that card and have been a Simic Guild card holder ever since.
Third- A recent card has me nearly as interested as the biomancer and it's not Hydroid Krasis or prime speaker Vannifar as cool as those cards are: I really like Biomancer's Familiar and am trying to build a standard deck to take advantage of its first ability, without relying soley on the card to make the deck work. So please check out the deck below and give me advice or answer the questions at the bottom.
This deck is doing okay, but has weaknesses in particular to board sweeping cards- the unwind are the only protection against that attack, also really fast aggro sometimes give it toruble. Overall I liek the feel of it, but dont consider it torounament ready yet which is why I am on here.
Questions:
1. How best to protect this deck from creature sweeping effects? WHat to remove and what to add in?
2. The deck is currently at 61 cards- which card should be removed?
3. Is there a better counter spell for this deck than Unwind?
4. Are there any creatures with abilities that work well with the familiar which aren't in the deck?
You are playing some underpowered cards (The scry creatures - although the sphinx may be fine) and not using the Familiar enough
Benthic Biomancer - Will help you dig to find the familiar, like the scry creatures do. Once you have it, get's huge and cycles through your deck making sure you hit nothing but gas.
Sharktocrab - With this and the familiar, other creature decks don't stand a chance.
Sharpened pretty much gave you a perfect run down. That is where i would start if i'm not playing krassis. The elfcrab is pretty vanilla but can really get there if you can make room for him.
Sparring Construct is just a low power card. It's weak. While it does have synergies with the other cards in the deck, it doesn't have enough synergies, nor does it do enough on it's own. Now, if you had a reliable way to have it die when you wanted it to, I might reconsider my position. But relying on your opponent killing it or giving you the opportunity to chump block with it, means you can't reliably get it to put a counter on something, and it's just not good enough.
Incubation Druid is a powerful card. Forget all other synergies within the deck, it's simply a strong card. It's a mana critter early. Decent, nothing overly powerful, but a fine early mana critter. Late, it evolves and either provides big mana, or solid beats. Once you factor in the synergy of the familiar letting it evolve for cheap and multiple times, it's even better.
If you are so concerned about ways to cheat counters onto your evolve critters without evolving them, there are only a few options that aren't really weak. The one that stands out as the strongest is Hadana's Climb. I could absolutely see running 2 of that in this deck (over the Zegana and something else).
Negate vs Unwind is close. It probably barely matters, and personal preference is a big determinant. The plus side of unwind is clear, and I certainly see why it appeals. The reason I chose negate is because I was less concerned with the situations where I have a developed board, and am using mana to adapt, and more concerned with the situations where I am still developing my board (casting creatures main phase) and have to leave mana up after that. In those situations, the 1 difference in the CMC matters. In situations where you are doing well, Unwind is stronger. In situations where you are on less stable footing, I think Negate is better. It's more important to me to make the difference where you are turning a loss into a win, vs a situation where you are turning a win into a bigger win, so I picked Negate. But the difference is small, and either works.
Warrant doesn't seem particularly good for you. Although, I suppose once you are running the Incubation Druid, you can cast the Warden half if need be. Besides, while using a spell to bounce a creature to the top of the library is fine,the ability to use Sharktocrab to lock down that creature (and beat face) seems much better.
Dryad Greenseeker isn't a bad card, but I don't think it's what you want to be doing. It's powerlevel is a little low. Besides, Benthic Biomancer and Shapers of Nature are better for you at digging through your deck and generating card advantage.
I have now removed incubation druid form the deck completely, I have also removed the sparring constructs and the Unwinds.
I have added one copy of Hadana's Climb. I had Dryad greenseeker in the deck but reverted back to OmenSpeaker as I found they worked more consistently at moving the game plan forward. I have als splashed white into the deck to allow late game casting of the angel side of Warrant.
The deck has gone in a bit different direction from either of the decks posted above, but is working very well in my very small limited play group. I will post a deck list once the deck is tested a bit more.
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First- I would like for all those players who enjoy playing Simic as their first choice of guild to give a shout out and declare- their simic leanings. So if you are a Simic Guild fan and have it in your signature line or just prefer simic, but play lots of different colors and combinations then please post and let everyone knoow who you are.
Second- I would love to know what card or deck led to you settling on Simic as your guild preference out of all the guilds and other combinations out there. I know for me it was the card Master Biomancer I loved everything about that card and have been a Simic Guild card holder ever since.
Third- A recent card has me nearly as interested as the biomancer and it's not Hydroid Krasis or prime speaker Vannifar as cool as those cards are: I really like Biomancer's Familiar and am trying to build a standard deck to take advantage of its first ability, without relying soley on the card to make the deck work. So please check out the deck below and give me advice or answer the questions at the bottom.
Creatures
Biomancer's Familiar-4
Growth-Chamber Guardian-4
Hydroid Krasis-1
Omenspeaker-4
Sphinx of Foresight-4
Tishana,Voice of Thunder-1
Sage's Row Savant-4
Shapers of Nature-2
Sparring Construct-4
Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma-2
Sorcery
Incubation\Incongruity-3
Instant
Unwind-3
Warrant/Warden-3
Land
4 Breeding Pool
4 Hinterland Harbor
2 Zhalfirin Void
5 Island
7 Forest
This deck is doing okay, but has weaknesses in particular to board sweeping cards- the unwind are the only protection against that attack, also really fast aggro sometimes give it toruble. Overall I liek the feel of it, but dont consider it torounament ready yet which is why I am on here.
Questions:
1. How best to protect this deck from creature sweeping effects? WHat to remove and what to add in?
2. The deck is currently at 61 cards- which card should be removed?
3. Is there a better counter spell for this deck than Unwind?
4. Are there any creatures with abilities that work well with the familiar which aren't in the deck?
5. Would llanowar elves be better than the Sparring construct in this environment?
Any help would be appreicated. Thank-you
You are playing some underpowered cards (The scry creatures - although the sphinx may be fine) and not using the Familiar enough
Benthic Biomancer - Will help you dig to find the familiar, like the scry creatures do. Once you have it, get's huge and cycles through your deck making sure you hit nothing but gas.
Sharktocrab - With this and the familiar, other creature decks don't stand a chance.
Incubation Druid - Your deck is mana intensive. This guy helps.
Sparring Construct seems terrible, and should absolutely by llanowar elves.
Goreclaw only reduces the cost of your Sphinx's, which hardly seems worth it.
Unwind seems like a bad Negate.
My thoughts
4 Biomancer's Familiar - Key Card
4 Incubation // Incongruity - Finds your key card (also, removal if necessary)
4 Growth-Chamber Guardian - Best Adapt Creature
4 Benthic Biomancer - Probably second best Adapt Creature (and digs, to help find key stuff)
3 Sharktocrab - Adapt creature that provides board Dominance
1 Zegana, Utopian Speaker - Just because
2 Shapers of Nature - If your deck is functioning, this card is insane
4 Llanowar Elves - Your deck wants to spend lots of mana
3 Incubation Druid - More mana, and functions very well with what you are doing
4 Negate - No Sweepers
2 Dive Down - Protect the familiar
1 Frilled Mystic - More saying no
4 Breeding Pool
4 Hinterland Harbor
2 Simic Guildgate
8 Forest
6 Island
I like the biomancer idea, and will defintiely get them and try that for the savants.
I get taking out the sparring construct, for llanowwar elves and defintiely can go that route.
Why put in the incubation druids if you take out the sparring contructs which help them get the counters.
The unwind costs one more mana than negate, but still let's you use mana to adapt, why do you think negate is better in this deck?
Why take out the warrants? Also what about druid greenseeker in this deck to build mana quicker.
Keep the help coming, I just want to understand the thoughts behind th changes!
Incubation Druid is a powerful card. Forget all other synergies within the deck, it's simply a strong card. It's a mana critter early. Decent, nothing overly powerful, but a fine early mana critter. Late, it evolves and either provides big mana, or solid beats. Once you factor in the synergy of the familiar letting it evolve for cheap and multiple times, it's even better.
If you are so concerned about ways to cheat counters onto your evolve critters without evolving them, there are only a few options that aren't really weak. The one that stands out as the strongest is Hadana's Climb. I could absolutely see running 2 of that in this deck (over the Zegana and something else).
Negate vs Unwind is close. It probably barely matters, and personal preference is a big determinant. The plus side of unwind is clear, and I certainly see why it appeals. The reason I chose negate is because I was less concerned with the situations where I have a developed board, and am using mana to adapt, and more concerned with the situations where I am still developing my board (casting creatures main phase) and have to leave mana up after that. In those situations, the 1 difference in the CMC matters. In situations where you are doing well, Unwind is stronger. In situations where you are on less stable footing, I think Negate is better. It's more important to me to make the difference where you are turning a loss into a win, vs a situation where you are turning a win into a bigger win, so I picked Negate. But the difference is small, and either works.
Warrant doesn't seem particularly good for you. Although, I suppose once you are running the Incubation Druid, you can cast the Warden half if need be. Besides, while using a spell to bounce a creature to the top of the library is fine,the ability to use Sharktocrab to lock down that creature (and beat face) seems much better.
Dryad Greenseeker isn't a bad card, but I don't think it's what you want to be doing. It's powerlevel is a little low. Besides, Benthic Biomancer and Shapers of Nature are better for you at digging through your deck and generating card advantage.
I have now removed incubation druid form the deck completely, I have also removed the sparring constructs and the Unwinds.
I have added one copy of Hadana's Climb. I had Dryad greenseeker in the deck but reverted back to OmenSpeaker as I found they worked more consistently at moving the game plan forward. I have als splashed white into the deck to allow late game casting of the angel side of Warrant.
The deck has gone in a bit different direction from either of the decks posted above, but is working very well in my very small limited play group. I will post a deck list once the deck is tested a bit more.