I'm not sure if you're still following this, but ...
I also 'started' in mtgo a few days ago. I'd played a little bit years ago, but didn't remember anything, and I'd sold all my cards so I had nothing, not even lands.
Cardhoarder has a getting started page that has links to a few bots that will give you free cards. I used those to get about half the cards needed for this deck I made with the help of mtggoldfish's budget magic series: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/416298 (fyi the fiery tempers should probably be swapped with some other super cheap removal spell)
I purchased the rest of the deck for under 1 ticket from cardhoarder (I had a few tickets left over). Its a standard deck thats actually proving to be somewhat competitive and has won me a few games. I'm enjoying it quite a bit.
Here is another super cheap deck if you're interested ... unfortunately you can't get as many of the cards from free bots, so it'll cost you about 2.4 tickets after using freebots: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/416457
I was more thinking that your lands could now be killed by Fiery Impulse or Fiery Temper when you awaken it with the Wall.
If the opposing player wants to remove my lands he can do so.
That's the thing though, control decks are often defined by getting to the long game and being able to play multiple spells in one turn. If your opponent is killing off your lands they can get a mana advantage over you, allowing them to play more threats than you can answer.
Sorry, I meant that if the player wanted to remove my lands with the eldrazi you mentioned he could. You're right that the wall opens up lands to vulnerability via Fiery Impulse or Fiery Temper, but how many other colors have access to something that can kill them that couldn't already? I guess it makes them more tempting targets for removal?
New Gideon. He makes blockers against aggressive decks, fills the board against control decks (forcing them to wrath or spend removal spells on tokens) and cracks in for 5 when they get low.
In my opinion, you should ditch the Fiery Tempers for Fiery Impulse and drop the Titan's Strength since it does so little. I'm also leery about playing a card like Wall of Resurgence that opens my lands up to removal when I'm trying to play things like Bane of Bala Ged and Ulamog. Quite frankly I'd get rid of all the Eldrazi, Crawler, Wall in exchange for Silkwrap, a full playset of Fiery Impulse and Gideon. You need more early interaction and better threats that you can actually cast on time.
Haha whoops, thanks for catching the title. I fixed it.
For Wall of Resurgence, lands can be targeted anyways by those Eldrazi, so I don't see how that changes anything. If the opposing player wants to remove my lands he can do so.
Which Gideon are you thinking? Also, for the Eldrazi I wanted tutor targets (I should fairly reliably be able to get one out on turn 6, I believe).
I've been working on this deck for about a week or so and getting help from various places. Now that all of SOI is spoiled I was hoping to get some help refining it here.
I haven't played in standard for a while, so I don't know if its competitive ... and if its not, what I could do to make it more so.
The Game Plan
The deck's core idea is to slow down the game and get Nahiri, the Harbinger out asap. Then keep the board relatively clear while pushing to Nahiri's -8 to summon an Eldrazi to hopefully close out the game. If that doesn't work Archangel Avacyn, Chandra, Flamecaller, and Descend Upon the Sinful with delirium offer alternate routes to victory. Alternatively, you should be able to pump up Needle Spires with Wall of Resurgence for another scary threat.
Card Thoughts Nahiri, the Harbinger - Nahiri is very much the center of the deck. She gives us card drawing, solid removal, and a creature tutor all in one. Every ability of hers can be relevant, and we can (hopefully) reliably reach her ultimate. Wall of Resurgence - I was on the fence about this card, but I think I'm liking it more and more. Its good defense, and it can create a threat as well. Quarantine Field - I figure this lets us remove pesky threats that our other spot removal misses. Descend Upon the Sinful - I really like this card. Exile is, of course, strong ... but the madness (which we should be able to do semi-reliably with Nahiri's draw/discard) is what really makes it.
General Questions
So, I'm happy with the 'skeleton' I have in place, but there are specific card choices/questions I have ...
Dromoka Dunecaster vs Akroan Jailer - I don't think the non-flying clause hurts Dunecaster so much in standard post-rotation ... but again, I'm not sure
Wall of Resurgence - So I like the card ... but are there any better choices for the slot that achieve similar results?
Titan's Strength - I'm thinking of this as removal that can also double as aggression if I need it to, but maybe one of the many white 2 mana spells (destroy target attacking creature, those sorts) would be better in this slot?
Westvale Abbey - Is this worth adding in as a 1-of? I'm thinking no, that we don't have the creature base to support it ... but we might be slow enough to take advantage of it?
4x Stone Quarry vs 2 plains/2 mountains. I think the quarry is the better choice ... but not sure.
Thanks in advance for any help/thoughts on my deck. Even if no one else likes the idea, I really like the general card mix ... I wanted to find something where I could use both Nahiri and Avacyn, and I think I did.
I missed your post, sorry! I've been refining it a lot, but its still not there yet, I think. I'm hoping it will be competitive ... I'm posting an updated decklist/questions in the main deckbuilding forum now.
So ... I haven't played standard in ages, so I have no idea if this is a good idea or not. But, I saw the Nahiri, the Harbinger spoiler and the Archangel Avacyn spoiler, and I thought that maybe there was a place for a sort of Boros control build. I've started working on it, but I think pieces may be missing ... I don't know. What do other people think?
So, first - I know there are too many cards here, and no sideboard. Still working on it.
I also know there are some choices to make (I'm not convinced the one-drop slot is correctly done, I don't know if Hedron Crawler or Knight of the White Orchid is the right choice for acceleration, and I'm not completely convinced on Wall of Resurgence, though I like how it can make Needle Spires a very scary threat, and I don't know that we have enough ways to flip Archangel Avacyn when we want to).
That said ... is the general idea sound? Am I missing anything? My general concept was control the game and get Nahiri out, then boost her and bring out an eldrazi for the win. Right now Descend Upon the Sinful is a hopeful alternate win-con with its Delirium condition, as is Chandra, Flamecaller and Archangel Avacyn. I don't think the mid-range part of the deck is quite there yet, I think it needs some other threat ... but yeah.
Sea Creatures is one of my favorites (Octopuses, Krakens, etc) - you can make a fairly strong mono-blue or blue/green (or even blue/green/black) tribal deck. I think blue/green is the go-to now so you can use Kiora.
Clerics with Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim was already mentioned and can be a lot of fun. I have a fun list I haven't posted yet.
Fallen Empires has good ideas for tribes too - maybe you could do Dwarf or something, or everyone picks a different tribe from the block.
Feel free to reference stuff from my list, including my budget list (its hard doing Selenia on a budget - some key cards are pricey!). Leyline of Sanctity and Cataclysm have never worked too well for me - the former is very meta dependent, and the latter isn't as good as other board wipes in my opinion - some huge threats can be left standing.
I saw your primer - I'm a big fan. Lich is always fun, though a bit too risky for me.
Thanks for catching Commander's Sphere! I don't know why I didn't make that substitution
City of Brass should probably have a place in the deck ... likely replacing Orzhov Basilica. Though I've found that too many pain lands can be problematic - the deck has so many expensive spells, it can lead to life-loss when I don't want to do it. Pristine talisman I find to be underwhelming - it works against the initial life-loss/switch I want, and if I later need to gain life the little 1 life pings are inconsequential.
I definitely agree about LD - I enjoy playing it, and Desolation Angel wins games for me. The trouble is figuring out what to take out for it. A tutor is a possibility ...
*Edit* Almost forgot - It'd be awesome if you linked me.
I've been playing around with this decklist for a bit. I miss 'old' abilities from back when I started playing, such as banding, and wanted to design a deck around them. I initially started with a blue/green/white list headed by Arcades Sabboth, as he's an elder dragon and all ... but as I worked on the list more and more it turned out that most of the cards I wanted were white, and that many of them really wanted Odric to be out in order to maximally competitive.
So, I reworked the deck more, and I think its finally ready to be posted for critique, as I need some help fine tuning it further.
The general 'theme' of the deck is combat tricks, centered around banding shenanigans and flanking. Banding is an underrated ability, in my opinion - it has a lot of utility in controlling combat. Flanking is also a fun ability that has good synergy with banding: flanking effects stack, and by manipulating where damage goes they allow me to come out ahead in most combats. To supplement these themes are token generators, utility creatures that work well with banding, and anthem effects and equipment to maximize what Odric can do. I even found room for a rampage card, an ability which actually has very strong synergy with Odric (though I'm sad that Craw Giant can't make the list).
I still think the deck can be further 'tuned' however. I'd like more of the following:
I tried to break the list out into different card functions as well as I could, but some cards go across categories. For example, Heliod, God of the Sun and Kjeldoran Outpost also make tokens, for 4 token producers total, and Caged Sun (and arguably Serra's Sanctum) is acceleration, for 3-4 pieces of acceleration total.
I'd like to try to keep as many banding creatures as possible in the list ... I already cut out a good # of the available creatures to try to keep it down to the most optimal ones. Some of the choices, such as the elephants for example, seem a bit 'odd', except that if Concerted Effort is out they provide trample (in this case) to everything.
There are lots of great anthem effects in white, so I'm also not sure if I've included 'enough' ... or maybe I have too many? I know I cut some good ones like Spear of Heliod and Dictate of Heliod because I just couldn't find the room.
Thanks for taking a look ... I'll be editing this post in the future as I work on the list more, and to make the formatting nicer.
I also 'started' in mtgo a few days ago. I'd played a little bit years ago, but didn't remember anything, and I'd sold all my cards so I had nothing, not even lands.
Cardhoarder has a getting started page that has links to a few bots that will give you free cards. I used those to get about half the cards needed for this deck I made with the help of mtggoldfish's budget magic series:
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/416298 (fyi the fiery tempers should probably be swapped with some other super cheap removal spell)
I purchased the rest of the deck for under 1 ticket from cardhoarder (I had a few tickets left over). Its a standard deck thats actually proving to be somewhat competitive and has won me a few games. I'm enjoying it quite a bit.
Here is another super cheap deck if you're interested ... unfortunately you can't get as many of the cards from free bots, so it'll cost you about 2.4 tickets after using freebots:
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/416457
Have fun.
Sorry, I meant that if the player wanted to remove my lands with the eldrazi you mentioned he could. You're right that the wall opens up lands to vulnerability via Fiery Impulse or Fiery Temper, but how many other colors have access to something that can kill them that couldn't already? I guess it makes them more tempting targets for removal?
So you're thinking something along the lines of:
3x Dromoka Dunecaster
2x Wall of Resurgence
1x Archangel of Tithes
2x Archangel Avacyn
1x Bane of Bala Ged
1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Spells (27)
4x Fiery Impulse
2x Avacyn's Judgement
3x Silkwrap
4x Stasis Snare
3x Quarantine Field
4x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4x Nahiri, the Harbinger
1x Chandra, Flamecaller
2x Descend Upon the Sinful
4x Stone Quarry
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Needle Spires
9x Plains
2x Mountain
3x Smash to Smithereens
2x Fate Forgotten
3x Suppression Bonds
2x Orbs of Warding
1x Sunscorch Regent
2x Tragic Arrogance
1x Linvala, the Preserver
1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
Haha whoops, thanks for catching the title. I fixed it.
I completely agree on the Fiery Temper -> Fiery Impulse switch, so I'll make that. I can drop some Titan's Strength to get a full playset.
For Wall of Resurgence, lands can be targeted anyways by those Eldrazi, so I don't see how that changes anything. If the opposing player wants to remove my lands he can do so.
Which Gideon are you thinking? Also, for the Eldrazi I wanted tutor targets (I should fairly reliably be able to get one out on turn 6, I believe).
I've been working on this deck for about a week or so and getting help from various places. Now that all of SOI is spoiled I was hoping to get some help refining it here.
I haven't played in standard for a while, so I don't know if its competitive ... and if its not, what I could do to make it more so.
3x Dromoka Dunecaster
3x Hedron Crawler
4x Wall of Resurgence
1x Archangel of Tithes
2x Archangel Avacyn
1x Bane of Bala Ged
1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Spells (22)
4x Titan's Strength
2x Avacyn's Judgement
4x Stasis Snare
2x Fiery Temper
3x Quarantine Field
4x Nahiri, the Harbinger
1x Chandra, Flamecaller
2x Descend Upon the Sinful
4x Stone Quarry
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Needle Spires
9x Plains
2x Mountain
3x Smash to Smithereens
2x Fate Forgotten
3x Suppression Bonds
2x Orbs of Warding
1x Sunscorch Regent
2x Tragic Arrogance
1x Linvala, the Preserver
1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
The Game Plan
The deck's core idea is to slow down the game and get Nahiri, the Harbinger out asap. Then keep the board relatively clear while pushing to Nahiri's -8 to summon an Eldrazi to hopefully close out the game. If that doesn't work Archangel Avacyn, Chandra, Flamecaller, and Descend Upon the Sinful with delirium offer alternate routes to victory. Alternatively, you should be able to pump up Needle Spires with Wall of Resurgence for another scary threat.
Card Thoughts
Nahiri, the Harbinger - Nahiri is very much the center of the deck. She gives us card drawing, solid removal, and a creature tutor all in one. Every ability of hers can be relevant, and we can (hopefully) reliably reach her ultimate.
Wall of Resurgence - I was on the fence about this card, but I think I'm liking it more and more. Its good defense, and it can create a threat as well.
Quarantine Field - I figure this lets us remove pesky threats that our other spot removal misses.
Descend Upon the Sinful - I really like this card. Exile is, of course, strong ... but the madness (which we should be able to do semi-reliably with Nahiri's draw/discard) is what really makes it.
General Questions
So, I'm happy with the 'skeleton' I have in place, but there are specific card choices/questions I have ...
Thanks in advance for any help/thoughts on my deck. Even if no one else likes the idea, I really like the general card mix ... I wanted to find something where I could use both Nahiri and Avacyn, and I think I did.
So ... I haven't played standard in ages, so I have no idea if this is a good idea or not. But, I saw the Nahiri, the Harbinger spoiler and the Archangel Avacyn spoiler, and I thought that maybe there was a place for a sort of Boros control build. I've started working on it, but I think pieces may be missing ... I don't know. What do other people think?
2x Dromoka Dunecaster
4x Titan's Strength
3x Hedron Crawler
3x Avacyn's Judgement
3x Quarantine Field
4x Stasis Snare
4x Wall of Resurgence
3x Fiery Temper
3x Nahiri, the Harbinger
1x Archangel of Tithes
2x Archangel Avacyn
1x Chandra, Flamecaller
2x Descend Upon the Sinful
1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
1x Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger
4x Stone Quarry
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Needle Spires
12x Plains
3x Mountain
So, first - I know there are too many cards here, and no sideboard. Still working on it.
I also know there are some choices to make (I'm not convinced the one-drop slot is correctly done, I don't know if Hedron Crawler or Knight of the White Orchid is the right choice for acceleration, and I'm not completely convinced on Wall of Resurgence, though I like how it can make Needle Spires a very scary threat, and I don't know that we have enough ways to flip Archangel Avacyn when we want to).
That said ... is the general idea sound? Am I missing anything? My general concept was control the game and get Nahiri out, then boost her and bring out an eldrazi for the win. Right now Descend Upon the Sinful is a hopeful alternate win-con with its Delirium condition, as is Chandra, Flamecaller and Archangel Avacyn. I don't think the mid-range part of the deck is quite there yet, I think it needs some other threat ... but yeah.
Thoughts? Am I working in a silly direction here?
Sea Creatures is one of my favorites (Octopuses, Krakens, etc) - you can make a fairly strong mono-blue or blue/green (or even blue/green/black) tribal deck. I think blue/green is the go-to now so you can use Kiora.
Clerics with Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim was already mentioned and can be a lot of fun. I have a fun list I haven't posted yet.
Fallen Empires has good ideas for tribes too - maybe you could do Dwarf or something, or everyone picks a different tribe from the block.
Thanks for catching Commander's Sphere! I don't know why I didn't make that substitution
City of Brass should probably have a place in the deck ... likely replacing Orzhov Basilica. Though I've found that too many pain lands can be problematic - the deck has so many expensive spells, it can lead to life-loss when I don't want to do it. Pristine talisman I find to be underwhelming - it works against the initial life-loss/switch I want, and if I later need to gain life the little 1 life pings are inconsequential.
I definitely agree about LD - I enjoy playing it, and Desolation Angel wins games for me. The trouble is figuring out what to take out for it. A tutor is a possibility ...
*Edit* Almost forgot - It'd be awesome if you linked me.
I've been playing around with this decklist for a bit. I miss 'old' abilities from back when I started playing, such as banding, and wanted to design a deck around them. I initially started with a blue/green/white list headed by Arcades Sabboth, as he's an elder dragon and all ... but as I worked on the list more and more it turned out that most of the cards I wanted were white, and that many of them really wanted Odric to be out in order to maximally competitive.
So, I reworked the deck more, and I think its finally ready to be posted for critique, as I need some help fine tuning it further.
The general 'theme' of the deck is combat tricks, centered around banding shenanigans and flanking. Banding is an underrated ability, in my opinion - it has a lot of utility in controlling combat. Flanking is also a fun ability that has good synergy with banding: flanking effects stack, and by manipulating where damage goes they allow me to come out ahead in most combats. To supplement these themes are token generators, utility creatures that work well with banding, and anthem effects and equipment to maximize what Odric can do. I even found room for a rampage card, an ability which actually has very strong synergy with Odric (though I'm sad that Craw Giant can't make the list).
I still think the deck can be further 'tuned' however. I'd like more of the following:
Here is the list so far ... again, any suggestions would be appreciated.
1 Odric, Master Tactician
Sub-Commander (1)
2 General Jarkeld
Banding Creatures (16)
3 Benalish Hero
4 Benalish Infantry
5 Icatian Phalanx
6 Icatian Skirmishers
7 Kjeldoran Escort
8 Kjeldoran Phalanx
9 Kjeldoran Skycaptain
10 Kjeldoran Skyknight
11 Kjeldoran Warrior
12 Knights of Thorn
14 Mesa Pegasus
14 Noble Elephant
15 Pikemen
16 Shield Bearer
17 Teremko Griffin
18 War Elephant
Flanking Creatures (15)
19 Benalish Cavalry
20 Cavalry Master
21 Femeref Knight
22 Gustcloak Cavalier
23 Knight of Sursi
24 Knight of the Holy Nimbus
25 Knight of Valor
26 Mtenda Herder
27 Outrider en-Kor
28 Pentarch Paladin
29 Riftmarked Knight
30 Sidar Jabari
31 Zhalfirin Commander
32 Zhalfirin Crusader
33 Zhalfirin Knight
34 Baton of Morale
Creatures to Band With (3)
35 Guardian of the Gateless
36 Palace Guard
37 Stuffy Doll
Equipment (7)
38 Basilisk Collar
49 Godsend
40 Gorgon's Head
41 Loxodon Warhammer
42 Nemesis Mask
43 Quietus Spike
44 Skullclamp
Rampage Creature (1)
45 Teeka's Dragon
Anthems (10)
46 Archetype of Courage
47 Akroma's Memorial
48 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
49 Brave the Sands
50 Caged Sun
51 Cathars' Crusade
52 Concerted Effort
53 Eldrazi Monument
54 Heliod, God of the Sun
55 True Conviction
Acceleration (2)
56 Land Tax
57 Sol Ring
Token Generation (2)
58 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
59 Luminarch Ascension
Card Drawing/Tutoring (2)
60 Enlightened Tutor
61 Mentor of the Meek
Recursion (1)
62 Elixir of Immortality
Helpful Effects (2)
63 Angel's Trumpet
64 Grand Abolisher
Land (36)
65 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
66 Kjeldoran Outpost
67 Kor Haven
68 Maze of Ith
69 Serra's Sanctum
70 Plains
71 Plains
72 Plains
73 Plains
74 Plains
75 Plains
76 Plains
77 Plains
78 Plains
79 Plains
80 Plains
81 Plains
82 Plains
83 Plains
84 Plains
85 Plains
86 Plains
87 Plains
88 Plains
89 Plains
90 Plains
91 Plains
92 Plains
93 Plains
94 Plains
95 Plains
96 Plains
97 Plains
98 Plains
99 Plains
100 Plains
I tried to break the list out into different card functions as well as I could, but some cards go across categories. For example, Heliod, God of the Sun and Kjeldoran Outpost also make tokens, for 4 token producers total, and Caged Sun (and arguably Serra's Sanctum) is acceleration, for 3-4 pieces of acceleration total.
I'd like to try to keep as many banding creatures as possible in the list ... I already cut out a good # of the available creatures to try to keep it down to the most optimal ones. Some of the choices, such as the elephants for example, seem a bit 'odd', except that if Concerted Effort is out they provide trample (in this case) to everything.
There are lots of great anthem effects in white, so I'm also not sure if I've included 'enough' ... or maybe I have too many? I know I cut some good ones like Spear of Heliod and Dictate of Heliod because I just couldn't find the room.
Thanks for taking a look ... I'll be editing this post in the future as I work on the list more, and to make the formatting nicer.
Rain of Daggers is too random ... but Cleansing looks potentially great Thanks!