Starting with Innistrad block Zombies. Going for BGR Zombies
Build the expensive landbase ahead of time. 8 M13, 4 woodlands, 4 Cavern of Souls.
Then I'm hoping that 5 guild boxes got last weekend and 2 booster boxes will provide 8 dual lands between guildgates and shocklands. Picked up 2 Jarrads between Duel Deck and prerelease.
After you take Zombie Shell, you need about 8-10 Ravnica cards to compensate for Rotation. Hoping to fill with Lotleth Troll, Deathrite Shamans.
Basically identified preferred card for each slot and then sleaved it more common relative I found in guild packs. Two Jarrad's Orders are represented by 2 Grisly Salvage for example. 2 Deathrites have Slitherheads in their place. Dreg Manglers holding spots for Lotleth trolls.
I'm worried about trading for much of anything for the first couple weeks. The store usually opens enough product for 3 rare per, but sold out of good stuff by early Friday night. Over 120 for prerelease at midnight with TONS coming back for FNM this week.
In Golgari, there were 8 different possible rares in the prerelease guildpack:
Abrupt Decay - $19
Lotleth Troll - $10
Deathrite Shaman - $6
Underworld Connections - $2
Jarad's Orders - $1.50
Corpsejack Menace - $1
Deadbridge Goliath - $1
Grave Betrayal - < $1
You can't tell me that putting The 3-5th best ones would have been a problem. Shamans, Connections and Jarad's Orders would have given it Ravnica flair without taking the chase rares.
I like the rares they have, but already have enough that it doesn't encourage you to buy the new set, while a single Shaman might have been that push.
Had been looking forward to going Golgari.
However, I think this guy has shifted my zombie deck to BR.
Then you add a few Thundermaw Hellkites to follow after him. 3RR becomes RR? Yes please.
Zombies used to have problems in the air, now, this could be HUGE.
With Blood Artists and Messengers, dealing damage on T4 attack phase isn't hard.
I just wish this card was legal in standard with Phyrexian mana. There are so many times that 1 more life would allow for another activation of Birthing Pod or casting Phyrexian Metamorph. Gaining life matters if you are using that life as currency for casting/activating. Otherwise, the only time you are really paying life is the enchantment activation for drawing a card that I've seen.
If you are looking for inventory to start out with right now, you "MIGHT" be better off two buy two deckbuilders toolkits rather than a fat pack.
Fatpack: 9 packs plus land, dice for $40
2 Deckbuilders Toolkits: 8 packs plus lands and random assortment of commons/uncommons for ~$40.
The M13 deckbuilders have 1 of all 4 legal set packs so it would be spread out.
I'm on the fence about this one.
However, if this is Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, there is value.
The other thing is that if they make Tibault Red/Blue and throw in a Snapcaster, you could have fastest selling ever.
Snappy's lifespan would be half over so including a rare in an Event/Duel deck isn't outrageous. He also fits with Tibualts flavor being able to cast things from graveyard.
I like the idea, but would change some things:
Maybe 2 Deadly Allure. With Flashback, they are worth 4 casting anyways and your creatures are not that big that you will lose them at times even with deathtouch.
Go with 23 lands. You have nothing over 4 for casting cost other than Vraska and you are running 4 dig engines. Also, trade off two of the Cavern of Souls for Golgari Gates. The gates come in tapped but allow casting of sorcery, planeswalker and Rancor. Maybe swap 2 more swamps for gates as well.
I like the Lotleth Troll, but 4 of them feels like too many. Other than Gravecrawler, nothing you want to discard to boost it.
Now if you add Dreg Manglers/Slitherhead in place of a Troll and Ooze, you have more useful cards in the graveyard.
You have Grisly savage throwing away ~2 creatures per turn without being able to take full advantage of most of those. (Non-Jarad/Gravecrawler)
Jarad's Orders would swap out for Grisly Savage in a split of some sort, 2/2? Orders give you two cards (Always get a Gravecrawler plus X) but cost twice as much.
Changes look good.
Try to find room for 2-4 Woodland Cemetaries as it might win you a game.
Had two games go down to the ability to activate pod with green instead of life. If you pay 2 life to cast it, then activate it 4 times, that is 10 life regardless of what your opponent is doing and you end up almost dead.
Also, Vault may not be of value to you. It's the equivalent of 5 to activate. At that point in the game, if you have creatures on the board, you'd rather be activating pod and if you don't have creatures it doesn't matter. The turns up until that point, you are fighting for the right colored mana.
Disciple is a good choice as well. Pod out a Messenger for 3 life, 2 damage and 3 cards when Messenger comes back with undying.
Unfortunately, it's not as resiliant as Zombie Pod.
Porcelian Legionaire is not a great pod target.
Rats and Cat have them ditching cards but not great targets either.
The beauty of Zombie pod is gravecrawler keeps coming back when he's sac'd.
Blood artist gains you life every time you use the pod. (A lot easier to pay 2 life for pod if you deal one damage and get 1 life back.)
Fume Spitter is fine but a single skinrenderer is better.
Reassembling skeleton is the bomb in pod decks who want to get to 3. If you discard it, you cast it from graveyard. Great to sac for three drop and cast again.
Restoration Angel is the one card that I'd like in my Zombie pod, otherwise, not a huge win. Most games you end up winning on the back of Messengers and Zombie pods.
The correct number of Metamorphs might be 3. Was constantly wishing for a third in my deck at FNM.
Built something similiar and had problems
With the high CMC for your Angels, it was inconsistent for me. If the sage doesn't live, you have trouble casting Angels and are slow to start.
New Lotus would definitely find a home here.
I'd swap Silverblade Paladin for Angelic Overseer for the double strike ability.
Make sure with that many angels you have 2-3 of the land that gives +1 whenever an Angel comes into play, to come back from behind.
Caverns are good since your only two choices are Angels or Humans and having a 5+ CMC countered hurts.
I'm still not sold on the Rancor. It's a good card, but not sure if it brings more than you lose on the Wild Defiance.
The beauty of the wild defiance build is that any turn, you can deal 9-10 infect with one creature in one swing.
1/1 -> cast Rangers Guile for hexprof & 1/1-> 5/5 -> Mutagenic growth is a 10/10
1/1 -> Appostle's blessing for protection -> 4/4-> Mutagenic growth is a 9/9
Even gut shot gives you +3/3 if you hit your own guy.
With so few creatures, you can't afford to swing a 3/1 with trample most of the time and lose your creature, you're still stalling for the one big hit. However, you can cast Unnatural Predation for G also and will end up doing more damage more often since it would make your 1/1 a 5/5 with trample when Wild Defiance is on the board (or send 2 at the creature through lash).
Would it have been too powerful to make it Opponent Lose one life, you gain one life for the same cost? AKA, Blood Artist's masterpiece?
Or would that have bumped it up to rare atleast for the CMC?
I would expect War Falcon to see lots of play especially in WW.
You've got Doomed Traveler, Champion of Parrish and Silverblade Paladin as very popular white cards who would activate it.
Will 12 one drops be too much for WW? Maybe but a 2/1 flier frequently able to attack on T2 is nothing to sneeze at.
Thalia is a soldier as well.
Also, Knight of Glory is a 1W Human Knight with exalted that could easily make WW to activate the War Falcon.
I could see:
T1 - Plains / War Falcon
T2 - Cathedral of War / Knight of Glory -- Swing for 4
With a backup of Doomed Traveler instead of War Falcon swinging for 3/3.
If a Silverblade Paladin comes out turn 3, you've got them over half gone.
Hero of Bladeholder and Mirran Crusader also activate it.
If Elite Vanguard sees scattered play, which is better, 2/1 flier or 2/1 ground human type?
Click the link to Wild defiance and read the rules text in bold with the date next to it. it clearly states
"If an instant or sorcery spell targets the same creature you control more than once, Wild Defiance will trigger only once."
I took that to mean that arc trail which can target multiple creatures only was once. Wouldn't that prevent two spellskites from bouncing the same spell back and forth as well?
I'm just trying to understand this, not being difficult. Especially if I'm asked by the same judge this week.
Spellskite never redirected the spell, so it was only the target once, meaning that it only got +3/+3 once from wild defiance. You swung for 5.
You may have heard about the combo before, but that happens with 2 spellskites in play, and it works if you actually redirect the spell. Being able to do this with one spellskite is impossible, and it's a good thing, too.
Why is that? I actually asked the judge on it not knowing one way or the other.
The verbage says "Change a target of target spell or ability to Spellskite"
There is nothing saying you can't change a spell targed at spellskite.
Also, Wild Definance says "Whenever a creature you control becomes the target of an instant or sorcery spell"
Both of these conditions would be satisfied with a redirect. I've found no official ruling otherwise. Can you direct me where this was referenced?
Build the expensive landbase ahead of time. 8 M13, 4 woodlands, 4 Cavern of Souls.
Then I'm hoping that 5 guild boxes got last weekend and 2 booster boxes will provide 8 dual lands between guildgates and shocklands. Picked up 2 Jarrads between Duel Deck and prerelease.
After you take Zombie Shell, you need about 8-10 Ravnica cards to compensate for Rotation. Hoping to fill with Lotleth Troll, Deathrite Shamans.
Basically identified preferred card for each slot and then sleaved it more common relative I found in guild packs. Two Jarrad's Orders are represented by 2 Grisly Salvage for example. 2 Deathrites have Slitherheads in their place. Dreg Manglers holding spots for Lotleth trolls.
I'm worried about trading for much of anything for the first couple weeks. The store usually opens enough product for 3 rare per, but sold out of good stuff by early Friday night. Over 120 for prerelease at midnight with TONS coming back for FNM this week.
Abrupt Decay - $19
Lotleth Troll - $10
Deathrite Shaman - $6
Underworld Connections - $2
Jarad's Orders - $1.50
Corpsejack Menace - $1
Deadbridge Goliath - $1
Grave Betrayal - < $1
You can't tell me that putting The 3-5th best ones would have been a problem. Shamans, Connections and Jarad's Orders would have given it Ravnica flair without taking the chase rares.
I like the rares they have, but already have enough that it doesn't encourage you to buy the new set, while a single Shaman might have been that push.
However, I think this guy has shifted my zombie deck to BR.
Then you add a few Thundermaw Hellkites to follow after him. 3RR becomes RR? Yes please.
Zombies used to have problems in the air, now, this could be HUGE.
With Blood Artists and Messengers, dealing damage on T4 attack phase isn't hard.
Fatpack: 9 packs plus land, dice for $40
2 Deckbuilders Toolkits: 8 packs plus lands and random assortment of commons/uncommons for ~$40.
The M13 deckbuilders have 1 of all 4 legal set packs so it would be spread out.
However, if this is Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, there is value.
The other thing is that if they make Tibault Red/Blue and throw in a Snapcaster, you could have fastest selling ever.
Snappy's lifespan would be half over so including a rare in an Event/Duel deck isn't outrageous. He also fits with Tibualts flavor being able to cast things from graveyard.
Maybe 2 Deadly Allure. With Flashback, they are worth 4 casting anyways and your creatures are not that big that you will lose them at times even with deathtouch.
Go with 23 lands. You have nothing over 4 for casting cost other than Vraska and you are running 4 dig engines. Also, trade off two of the Cavern of Souls for Golgari Gates. The gates come in tapped but allow casting of sorcery, planeswalker and Rancor. Maybe swap 2 more swamps for gates as well.
I like the Lotleth Troll, but 4 of them feels like too many. Other than Gravecrawler, nothing you want to discard to boost it.
Now if you add Dreg Manglers/Slitherhead in place of a Troll and Ooze, you have more useful cards in the graveyard.
You have Grisly savage throwing away ~2 creatures per turn without being able to take full advantage of most of those. (Non-Jarad/Gravecrawler)
Jarad's Orders would swap out for Grisly Savage in a split of some sort, 2/2? Orders give you two cards (Always get a Gravecrawler plus X) but cost twice as much.
Try to find room for 2-4 Woodland Cemetaries as it might win you a game.
Had two games go down to the ability to activate pod with green instead of life. If you pay 2 life to cast it, then activate it 4 times, that is 10 life regardless of what your opponent is doing and you end up almost dead.
Also, Vault may not be of value to you. It's the equivalent of 5 to activate. At that point in the game, if you have creatures on the board, you'd rather be activating pod and if you don't have creatures it doesn't matter. The turns up until that point, you are fighting for the right colored mana.
Disciple is a good choice as well. Pod out a Messenger for 3 life, 2 damage and 3 cards when Messenger comes back with undying.
Porcelian Legionaire is not a great pod target.
Rats and Cat have them ditching cards but not great targets either.
The beauty of Zombie pod is gravecrawler keeps coming back when he's sac'd.
Blood artist gains you life every time you use the pod. (A lot easier to pay 2 life for pod if you deal one damage and get 1 life back.)
Fume Spitter is fine but a single skinrenderer is better.
Reassembling skeleton is the bomb in pod decks who want to get to 3. If you discard it, you cast it from graveyard. Great to sac for three drop and cast again.
Restoration Angel is the one card that I'd like in my Zombie pod, otherwise, not a huge win. Most games you end up winning on the back of Messengers and Zombie pods.
The correct number of Metamorphs might be 3. Was constantly wishing for a third in my deck at FNM.
With the high CMC for your Angels, it was inconsistent for me. If the sage doesn't live, you have trouble casting Angels and are slow to start.
New Lotus would definitely find a home here.
I'd swap Silverblade Paladin for Angelic Overseer for the double strike ability.
Make sure with that many angels you have 2-3 of the land that gives +1 whenever an Angel comes into play, to come back from behind.
Caverns are good since your only two choices are Angels or Humans and having a 5+ CMC countered hurts.
The beauty of the wild defiance build is that any turn, you can deal 9-10 infect with one creature in one swing.
1/1 -> cast Rangers Guile for hexprof & 1/1-> 5/5 -> Mutagenic growth is a 10/10
1/1 -> Appostle's blessing for protection -> 4/4-> Mutagenic growth is a 9/9
Even gut shot gives you +3/3 if you hit your own guy.
With so few creatures, you can't afford to swing a 3/1 with trample most of the time and lose your creature, you're still stalling for the one big hit. However, you can cast Unnatural Predation for G also and will end up doing more damage more often since it would make your 1/1 a 5/5 with trample when Wild Defiance is on the board (or send 2 at the creature through lash).
Or would that have bumped it up to rare atleast for the CMC?
You've got Doomed Traveler, Champion of Parrish and Silverblade Paladin as very popular white cards who would activate it.
Will 12 one drops be too much for WW? Maybe but a 2/1 flier frequently able to attack on T2 is nothing to sneeze at.
Thalia is a soldier as well.
Also, Knight of Glory is a 1W Human Knight with exalted that could easily make WW to activate the War Falcon.
I could see:
T1 - Plains / War Falcon
T2 - Cathedral of War / Knight of Glory -- Swing for 4
With a backup of Doomed Traveler instead of War Falcon swinging for 3/3.
If a Silverblade Paladin comes out turn 3, you've got them over half gone.
Hero of Bladeholder and Mirran Crusader also activate it.
If Elite Vanguard sees scattered play, which is better, 2/1 flier or 2/1 ground human type?
I took that to mean that arc trail which can target multiple creatures only was once. Wouldn't that prevent two spellskites from bouncing the same spell back and forth as well?
I'm just trying to understand this, not being difficult. Especially if I'm asked by the same judge this week.
Why is that? I actually asked the judge on it not knowing one way or the other.
The verbage says "Change a target of target spell or ability to Spellskite"
There is nothing saying you can't change a spell targed at spellskite.
Also, Wild Definance says "Whenever a creature you control becomes the target of an instant or sorcery spell"
Both of these conditions would be satisfied with a redirect. I've found no official ruling otherwise. Can you direct me where this was referenced?