Spiritdancer Spreads 'em is a new deck with a foundation built on cards from RoE. Built on aura synergy, this deck runs more auras than land! It is a lot of fun to play, something that many decks are missing these days. With elements of control, combo, and big creatures, this deck is fun for any Spike, Johnny, or Timmy.
Key Cards: Kor Spiritdancer: She is amazing. She gains +2/+2 for each aura attached, and she draws a card each aura played. That means Spreading Seas is card advantage. Given this deck runs 20+ auras, if you have one of her out you should never run out of a hand. Amazing card, and can swing for the win, but typically we reserve that honor for the next creature.
Aura Gnarlid: This beast gains +1/+1 for each aura on the field, be it yours or your opponents. This means when you make your opponent spread 'em in the early game, you are boosting this creature before it is even played. When this beast is finally played, it is more powerful than anything in your opponent's deck. To make matters even more extreme, this creature can be blocked by creatures with more power, which essentially makes it unblockable.
Eel Umbra: An instant Aura? While some people look at this and just see negate in the form an aura, this deck sees more. When casted on a Spiritdancer, she gets +3/+3 and you draw a card. This allows for blocking and killing a creature your opponent thought was safe to swing with. Also this cards comes with the new mechanic totem armor, to help your creature live longer.
Canopy Cover: We all remember when this card came out. The first decent aura ever made. Even then, it still struggled to find a home. This deck loves this card. If you use it on a Spiritdancer, you almost ensure that you will have a great drawing engine for the rest of the game. Also it allows the Spiritdancer to swing over ground creatures to rack up damage. Needless to say, this card is a great cast on Aura Gnarlid as well.
Sigil of the Empty Throne: For every enchantment played, you get a 4/4 angel token. Given over a third of the deck is enchantments that cost 2 or less, this isn't difficult to do. Combine that with Spiritdancer, and now you get to draw more cards while making more angels, all while powering Aura Gnarlid. This card is the back breaker of the deck. Mana ramp makes this card hit the field as early as T3. The card speaks for itself, so I'll say no more.
Trace of Abundance Amazing Mana Ramp that doesn't sit on the battlefield, and counts as an Aura, which helps the deck in numerous ways. It is an awesome T3 play. A common early game starts out with T2 Spreading Seas, and T3 Trace of Abundance on the untapped land, and Spreading Seas again. Now you can have 5 mana on T4 while having their land dampened.
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I'll add more on later when I have more time. All input is welcome and appreciated.
Hm, interesting list. I would imagine you would definitely need the 4th Wall of Denial, at least in the sideboard. I haven't playtested the deck, but it seems your defense is light. If your meta really has Jund, RDW, and Vamps, it might be a bit of a struggle.
What's the idea behind the pair of 1 mana umbras in the sideboard? Are they for a turn 1 or 2 ramp and then turn three Gnarlid + Umbra? I was wondering how you would play this deck: wait until you have five mana and then play Aura Gnarlid with Eel Umbra backup? Or just play it turn 3 and hope they don't have removal? The same goes for Kor Spiritdancer: do you wait until you have four mana to ensure you at least replace her, or just play her early?
I really like this list and hope it does well. If I have some time I'll playtest it tonight. Also, Lifelink seems like a good idea to let you race if need be.
Edit: I'm surprised you don't run Ardent Plea. But I guess it looks like there's no room.
I am planning on taking this deck to my local FNM this week. It is a competitive environment very similar to the current big tourney meta except that White weenie and Allys haven't caught on yet. I think I have the deck down, but I need sideboard assistance, because control is going to toss me around like a rag doll.
Decks I expect to run into:
Jund, RDW, U/W Control, KotR, and Vamps.
I need to determine how I will Sideboard vs these decks as well as refine my sideboard in preparation.
Any help to refine this rogue deck is greatly appreciated. I am sure there are a few mainboard changes to be made as well.
I have some Glacial Fortresses, but I don't run enough normal land to make them effective. It seems like they come to play tapped all the time. Besides I don't typically have color screw due to the Citadels, Trace of Abundance, and BoP.
I am working on something similar. How about a Rhox War Monk? Also, I think Hyena Umbra is a VERY good card here. Example:
Hyena Umbra is definitely the card on the outside looking in. I am tempted to sneak in Hyena Umbra in place of Lifelink, but I hate being at 3 life or less late game when I have complete board advantage and losing to something like a bolt. I really do need to find a place for it.
I could drop the wall of denial, but that leaves me running 10 creatures and no removal, and that just sounds dangerous. Cutting Eel Umbra down some is a possibility. A 3/5 first striker T2 is something fearful. Of course, this only works well vs non-white decks due to exile. It will take some thought to figure out what to replace.
Rhox War Monk could replace the wall of denial. He is more susceptible to dying, but his lifelink stalls. If i use him for walls, then I can drop lifelink for Hyena Umbra. An interesting thought.
Edit: I did a few edits after the initial post. I couldn't remember what was in my sideboard at the time of typing, and afterwards I remembered it was negate. The defense is a little low, but spreading seas is supposed to make up ground on that. Kor Firewalker can provide additional defense against RDW or Jund.
Ardent Plea always gets mentioned when I say I run spreads, but the problem is if I cascade into canopy cover, Lifelink, or any Umbra, it is often wasted (in fact do I have to hit my opponent's creatures if I have no other target?). Also obviously there isn't any room. Ardent Plea is for an Esper Spread 'em deck that also uses contaminated ground. I could see that making a complete mess out of many decks. But that is for another day.
Hyena Umbra is definitely the card on the outside looking in. I am tempted to sneak in Hyena Umbra in place of Lifelink, but I hate being at 3 life or less late game when I have complete board advantage and losing to something like a bolt. I really do need to find a place for it.
I could drop the wall of denial, but that leaves me running 10 creatures and no removal, and that just sounds dangerous. Cutting Eel Umbra down some is a possibility. A 3/5 first striker T2 is something fearful. Of course, this only works well vs non-white decks due to exile. It will take some thought to figure out what to replace.
Rhox War Monk could replace the wall of denial. He is more susceptible to dying, but his lifelink stalls. If i use him for walls, then I can drop lifelink for Hyena Umbra. An interesting thought.
Edit: I did a few edits after the initial post. I couldn't remember what was in my sideboard at the time of typing, and afterwards I remembered it was negate. The defense is a little low, but spreading seas is supposed to make up ground on that. Kor Firewalker can provide additional defense against RDW or Jund.
Ardent Plea always gets mentioned when I say I run spreads, but the problem is if I cascade into canopy cover, Lifelink, or any Umbra, it is often wasted (in fact do I have to hit my opponent's creatures if I have no other target?). Also obviously there isn't any room. Ardent Plea is for an Esper Spread 'em deck that also uses contaminated ground. I could see that making a complete mess out of many decks. But that is for another day.
Worried about Lightning Bolt? Sideboard: -1 Pithing Needle, -1 Lifelink, -1 Negate (Or just take out the 2 Hyena Umbra and put them into the mainboard!) for +3 Flashfreeze. Tis a great card against Jund and you can stop a Blightning too. Because it isn't totem armor and it isn't shroud, Lifelink seems like the weakest link (sry for the pun).
Negate also hits the same cards. I'd never use a flash freeze on any creature Jund has so I may as well use Negate. You do make a good point of how powerful it is though. I think I might need to sneak Negate into the main deck, since it is a good card vs just about any deck. Lifelink seems like the weakest link because I just added it in place of 2 of the 4 birds I originally ran. It makes sense that it is the weakest card. I think I will replace the lifelink with Negate, and see if I can get two more Negates in there. The idea of running 4 birds and 4 walls, just to increase my chances of a t2 wall of denial is really tempting. That completely ruins the game for RDW especially if I am on the play. I'll see what I can do.
Edit: I swapped in some Hyena Umbra's for lifelink (should help vs U/W control). I couldn't think of what to do with the sideboard, so I put in 3 more Umbras to help keep DoJ off of me. There are no more counter intensive control, so if I can just get a Spiritdancer canopy covered and umbra'd I should have a shot at winning the game if I already pithed Jace.
So I tested your list against Jund last night. I certainly would not say it has a favorable match up.
Lots of times you have auras in your hand and no creatures to enchant, since you have 10 auras and 8 creatures. Also, even when things go your way and you're able to stack enchantments on a Spiritdancer, you have to sit back and wait because it's not profitable to attack; they'll outrace you. You basically have to wait for a Sigil and a few auras to actually change the board position to where you can attack.
Don't get me wrong, I wanted this to work, but it just didn't for me.
ive been working on a modified list of this. and most of my main deck looks very similar to yours, the solution i had was lowering the buff aura's down to 3 canopy and 3 eel, adding in crystallization and guard duty to use as removal, then instead of 2 lifelink adding 2 baneslayer angels. which serve the same purpose but also happen to win games if they dont answer it.
also i didnt use birds, but decided that it was worth it to run wall of omens to not only slow down every other deck but to get to my dancers faster.
I think 4 sigil is just too many, ive been using 2 sigil 2 jace and its been working pretty solid, considering that once you get your engine online, you are RIPPING through your deck at breakneck pace.
Ditch the green. There's really nothing there that helps you. Aura Gnarlid is not all that great. Stick to Sigil of the Empty Throne for the win con. It is much more reliable. The Umbras are OK, but I wouldn't bother with too many of them. I'd probably play 2 or 3 Eel Umbra, but no more than that. Wall of Denial Seems out of place as well. Guard Duty, Pacifism, Crystallization, and Narcolepsy seem to do the job just as well, while netting you a card or an angel for even cheaper.
Ditch the green. There's really nothing there that helps you. Aura Gnarlid is not all that great. Stick to Sigil of the Empty Throne for the win con. It is much more reliable. The Umbras are OK, but I wouldn't bother with too many of them. I'd probably play 2 or 3 Eel Umbra, but no more than that. Wall of Denial Seems out of place as well. Guard Duty, Pacifism, Crystallization, and Narcolepsy seem to do the job just as well, while netting you a card or an angel for even cheaper.
Aura Gnarlid is not all that great, in a deck with a deck with over 20 aura's just in one persons deck alone? The umbras in this deck allow Spiritdancer and Gnarlid to keep on living and it pumps them up even more. And wall of denial is there as an early big blocker that will stop anything big in their track.
The only downside i see to this deck would be creatures with deathtouch, or bloodghast/vegevine with a basilisk collar attached to it
I found pithing needle did well against basilisk collar.
I could ditch green, and stick to two colors. If I do that, then the deck would look more like this. The issue now is the lack of ramp. Trace of Abundance is amazing ramp in the deck.
Here is a sample deck.
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sunpetal Grove
5 Island
3 Plains
5 Forest
Enchantment
4 Sigil of the Empty Throne
Auras
4 Spreading Seas
4 Convincing Mirage
4 Canopy Cover
4 Eel Umbra
4 Trace of Abundance
2 Hyena Umbra
4 Kor Spiritdancer
4 Aura Gnarlid
3 Wall of Denials
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Pithing Needle
4 Kor Firewalker
4 Negate
2 Mind Control
2 Hyena Umbra
1 Spider Umbra
Key Cards:
Kor Spiritdancer: She is amazing. She gains +2/+2 for each aura attached, and she draws a card each aura played. That means Spreading Seas is card advantage. Given this deck runs 20+ auras, if you have one of her out you should never run out of a hand. Amazing card, and can swing for the win, but typically we reserve that honor for the next creature.
Aura Gnarlid: This beast gains +1/+1 for each aura on the field, be it yours or your opponents. This means when you make your opponent spread 'em in the early game, you are boosting this creature before it is even played. When this beast is finally played, it is more powerful than anything in your opponent's deck. To make matters even more extreme, this creature can be blocked by creatures with more power, which essentially makes it unblockable.
Eel Umbra: An instant Aura? While some people look at this and just see negate in the form an aura, this deck sees more. When casted on a Spiritdancer, she gets +3/+3 and you draw a card. This allows for blocking and killing a creature your opponent thought was safe to swing with. Also this cards comes with the new mechanic totem armor, to help your creature live longer.
Canopy Cover: We all remember when this card came out. The first decent aura ever made. Even then, it still struggled to find a home. This deck loves this card. If you use it on a Spiritdancer, you almost ensure that you will have a great drawing engine for the rest of the game. Also it allows the Spiritdancer to swing over ground creatures to rack up damage. Needless to say, this card is a great cast on Aura Gnarlid as well.
Sigil of the Empty Throne: For every enchantment played, you get a 4/4 angel token. Given over a third of the deck is enchantments that cost 2 or less, this isn't difficult to do. Combine that with Spiritdancer, and now you get to draw more cards while making more angels, all while powering Aura Gnarlid. This card is the back breaker of the deck. Mana ramp makes this card hit the field as early as T3. The card speaks for itself, so I'll say no more.
Trace of Abundance Amazing Mana Ramp that doesn't sit on the battlefield, and counts as an Aura, which helps the deck in numerous ways. It is an awesome T3 play. A common early game starts out with T2 Spreading Seas, and T3 Trace of Abundance on the untapped land, and Spreading Seas again. Now you can have 5 mana on T4 while having their land dampened.
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I'll add more on later when I have more time. All input is welcome and appreciated.
Spirtdancer Spreads 'em
What's the idea behind the pair of 1 mana umbras in the sideboard? Are they for a turn 1 or 2 ramp and then turn three Gnarlid + Umbra? I was wondering how you would play this deck: wait until you have five mana and then play Aura Gnarlid with Eel Umbra backup? Or just play it turn 3 and hope they don't have removal? The same goes for Kor Spiritdancer: do you wait until you have four mana to ensure you at least replace her, or just play her early?
I really like this list and hope it does well. If I have some time I'll playtest it tonight. Also, Lifelink seems like a good idea to let you race if need be.
Edit: I'm surprised you don't run Ardent Plea. But I guess it looks like there's no room.
I am working on something similar. How about a Rhox War Monk? Also, I think Hyena Umbra is a VERY good card here. Example:
You are playing Jund, you're on the play.
T1 (You): Forest, Birds of Paradise
T1 (Him): Savage Lands
T2 (You): Kor Spiritdancer, Hyena Umbra, draw a card...
Him: Daaamn.
Signature by KrackShott at Kracked Graphics!
Current Deck(s):
GUElvesUG
GWBThe Birthing RockBWG
I could drop the wall of denial, but that leaves me running 10 creatures and no removal, and that just sounds dangerous. Cutting Eel Umbra down some is a possibility. A 3/5 first striker T2 is something fearful. Of course, this only works well vs non-white decks due to exile. It will take some thought to figure out what to replace.
Rhox War Monk could replace the wall of denial. He is more susceptible to dying, but his lifelink stalls. If i use him for walls, then I can drop lifelink for Hyena Umbra. An interesting thought.
Edit: I did a few edits after the initial post. I couldn't remember what was in my sideboard at the time of typing, and afterwards I remembered it was negate. The defense is a little low, but spreading seas is supposed to make up ground on that. Kor Firewalker can provide additional defense against RDW or Jund.
Ardent Plea always gets mentioned when I say I run spreads, but the problem is if I cascade into canopy cover, Lifelink, or any Umbra, it is often wasted (in fact do I have to hit my opponent's creatures if I have no other target?). Also obviously there isn't any room. Ardent Plea is for an Esper Spread 'em deck that also uses contaminated ground. I could see that making a complete mess out of many decks. But that is for another day.
Spirtdancer Spreads 'em
Worried about Lightning Bolt? Sideboard: -1 Pithing Needle, -1 Lifelink, -1 Negate (Or just take out the 2 Hyena Umbra and put them into the mainboard!) for +3 Flashfreeze. Tis a great card against Jund and you can stop a Blightning too. Because it isn't totem armor and it isn't shroud, Lifelink seems like the weakest link (sry for the pun).
Signature by KrackShott at Kracked Graphics!
Current Deck(s):
GUElvesUG
GWBThe Birthing RockBWG
Edit: I swapped in some Hyena Umbra's for lifelink (should help vs U/W control). I couldn't think of what to do with the sideboard, so I put in 3 more Umbras to help keep DoJ off of me. There are no more counter intensive control, so if I can just get a Spiritdancer canopy covered and umbra'd I should have a shot at winning the game if I already pithed Jace.
Spirtdancer Spreads 'em
Lots of times you have auras in your hand and no creatures to enchant, since you have 10 auras and 8 creatures. Also, even when things go your way and you're able to stack enchantments on a Spiritdancer, you have to sit back and wait because it's not profitable to attack; they'll outrace you. You basically have to wait for a Sigil and a few auras to actually change the board position to where you can attack.
Don't get me wrong, I wanted this to work, but it just didn't for me.
also i didnt use birds, but decided that it was worth it to run wall of omens to not only slow down every other deck but to get to my dancers faster.
I think 4 sigil is just too many, ive been using 2 sigil 2 jace and its been working pretty solid, considering that once you get your engine online, you are RIPPING through your deck at breakneck pace.
You can find me on MTGO. My username is gereffi.
Aura Gnarlid is not all that great, in a deck with a deck with over 20 aura's just in one persons deck alone? The umbras in this deck allow Spiritdancer and Gnarlid to keep on living and it pumps them up even more. And wall of denial is there as an early big blocker that will stop anything big in their track.
The only downside i see to this deck would be creatures with deathtouch, or bloodghast/vegevine with a basilisk collar attached to it
I could ditch green, and stick to two colors. If I do that, then the deck would look more like this. The issue now is the lack of ramp. Trace of Abundance is amazing ramp in the deck.
4 Glacial Fortress
10 Island
9 Plains
Enchantment
4 Sigil of the Empty Throne
Auras
4 Spreading Seas
4 Convincing Mirage
4 Guard Duty
3 Narcolepsy
4 Eel Umbra
3 Crystallization
3 Hyena Umbra
2 Pacifism
4 Kor Spiritdancer
4 Wall of Omens
4 Pithing Needle
4 Kor Firewalker
4 Negate
2 Mind Control
1 Hyena Umbra
Spirtdancer Spreads 'em