MTG Salvation

Pack Rat is another good option. Key to the City can work. Stern Constable is also a really odd option in white. I don't think its good but its really odd and I've never seen anything like it in white before.

This is super outside of my expertise/ability as a deck builder but I think it is hilarious and I hope it works out!

As a back up to Leyline of Anticipation you can also run Vedalken Orrery. Daretti, Scrap Savant and Tezzeret the Seeker could also be really good here. Daretti can be kind of fragile because he's a walker but it does everything you want because it digs through the deck and can recur artifacts as well. Muzzio, Vissionary Architect can be good. Harmless Offering & Bazaar Trader are other cards that could help.

I think for cost and ease of getting into the format I would consider mono-colored decks. You can do some very interesting decks for relatively inexpensive. I've been playing some neat mono colored decks myself recently that are a little off the beaten path that aren't over powered but I think could go well together for pretty cheap.

• WWhite is hard. There are a lot of neat legendaries but I struggle to find one I feel like is good enough that isn't crazy expensive. There are a few "Plains Matters" cards that I think could be neat to build around like Quarry Colossus and Emeria Shepherd. There are also some good landfall cards like Emeria Angel and some decent land tutors like Knight of the White Orchid and Kor Cartographer as well as artifact options like Pilgrim's Eye and Burnished Hart. White also has a lot more reanimator spells than you would think so maybe a Mono-W Reanimator/Plains Matter strategy could be fun.
• UPadeem, Consul of Innovation Mono-U Thopters. Its basically a Mono-U Artifact deck that uses Thopter Spy Network and Efficient Construction to dump out lots of thopters. It also has an Energy sub-theme using Consulate Turret, Dynavolt Tower, Era of Innovation, etc.
• BNefarox, Overord of Grixis creatureless Voltron or King Macar, the Gold-Cursed Inspired Vehicles. Either one can be fine. The Nefarox one was designed to be a Control/Voltron deck so it uses as many Sweepers and targeted removal as you can get along with cards like Homicidal Seclusion and Scroll of the Masters. The King Macar deck is probably a little more pricey because it uses Inspired creatures and their obvious synergy with Vehicles to create a kind of aggressive control list.
• RKari Zev, Skyship Raider semi-Voltron Threaten aggro. Kari Zev is pretty good for Voltron believe it or not. First Strike and Menace is a pretty potent combination and discourages a lot of blocks. Often she can survive the double block by First Striking the most dangerous creature to death and then just outlasting the other one. The token can put out a lot of damage and is just a nice bonus. On top of that, running a Threaten themed deck (because of Kari Zev's Expertise) is kind of a cool idea because it gives you a way of clearing out blockers and laying in the smack down. Sometimes that means the opponent doesn't even have enough creatures left to block Kari. For a Mono-Red deck, its pretty good and can really put on the pressure. Hero's Blade and Tenza, Godo's Maul are the all-stars of this build. Make sure you have access to something like Goblin Bombardment to make use of the token.
• GNissa, Vastwood Seer (or anything else really) Forest Matters. There are a lot of neat cards that count the number of Forests you control or just tutor Forests etc.

I used to be really big on this card but I'm kind of surprised to see the number of people who don't like it and yet, also kind of not surprised. I can't tell you the number of times I've kept a 3-land hand thinking I'll surely draw another land or two in the first 3 turns, only to not, and then have by Hart get killed and be stuck on 3 and unable to do anything the entire game. (Because MTGO's notoriously bad shuffler). I think in most cases where I'm running decks that can easily return Hart I have moved to just playing Pilgrim's Eye instead. Sure, it grabs fewer lands per ETB but it costs less mana overall to get those lands I've found the reliability far outweighs the pay-off of more lands in most cases. Plus, a Flyer is nice to have around if you can buff it. And really, in most of my decks recurring Eye/Hart in the late game is more like a simple thing that just happens as a matter of course and the extra lands don't matter at that point.

Quote from Wes0SPECTRALself »

the cards im testing tonight day's undoing thing in the ice bedlam reveler magma jet
really want to stay mono blue but uff

so far in love with days undoing helps me hunt down those final burn spells

Day's and Reveler seems like it would be kind of a non-bo?

I don't even know if Fetches are really all that necessary in most cases. If you aren't using them for color fixing, what are they even in the deck for? In that case I think 4x Inspiring Vantage is an absolute must (considering the deck never wants that fourth land anyway) and 4x Battlefield Forge (as an easy untapped dual) is probably the way to go.

I tested this list:



Guardians' Pledge does not pump tokens from Renegade or the Germ token from Flayer Husk. That's worth noting. So far triggering Revolt on the off chance you need to has been a piece of cake. Aviary Mechanic has been largely unnecessary in this endeavor. It could be replaced with something more aggressive but maybe still not Skyfisher and certainly not Glint Hawk. I feel like the deck needs a couple extra equipment (preferably of the Living Weapon type and low cmc) and a couple of more copies of Strength of Arms. Guardians' Pledge is capable of producing an insane amount of damage so any build that can maximize that to its fullest potential.

I have been running the following:



I can't remember what else I'm running in this list at the moment so I'll maybe have to update later.

Countless Gears Renegade is a card I'm really interested in trying. Its basically Nest Invader but better if you can trigger Revolt. It rewards you for getting aggressive and helps rebuild your board after a swing which is exactly what this kind of deck wants. That's kind of what I want to go for with this deck. Strength of Arms is great because it can occasionally save a creature from a Lightning Bolt or in combat. It represents extra damage if the creature gets through, AND it produces yet another body. Can you imagine using that in combat to have one of your 1/1's trade, getting a replacement body, AND THEN dropping a Renegade to get two more bodies? That's four power and removal for 3cmc. Freaking nuts! Thraben Inspector helps here too because of the Clue token. Also, the servo is an artifact which helps out with Court Homunculous!

Another thing along these lines is I might consider running Glint Hawk, Kor Skyfisher, or Aviary Mechanic. I hesitate to run Hawk or Skyfisher because they can be a very real tempo loss if they just get Bolted. Hawk is tempting because I am running so many artifacts and replaying a Husk to get the another creature back can be tempting. Skyfisher and Mechanic can also reset a Cathar which is pretty nice. You can also use it to trigger revolt for Renegade I think that's kind of why I'm partial to Mechanic because its ability is optional but its still a body when you want it. Its otherwise just a vanilla body. It may not be good enough since it doesn't have flying but these bounce creatures also offer a lot of potential utility as a result. I think it is worth testing but I don't normally run them.

I don't like Ravenous Rats. I'd prefer Specter without Witches especially if you are playing Gary. Otherwise Wicked Akuba can do a LOT of damage.

Aeronaut Tinkerer + Inventor's Goggles seems good. I guess my question would be, how many Goggles do you run? The point of Caw Blade is that you need reliable fliers to hit for 3+ w/ equipment. Squaks + Goggles is only 2. I would think Bonesplitter is the primary equipment of choice? What does a deck running Aeronaut Tinkerer look like?

For me what spawned all this, as I mentioned in the OP, was Acid Trip. I remember when I was playing that deck one of my biggest issues was that Momentary Blink, while getting me more ETB triggers, was expensive (cmc) and did nothing if I didn't already have a creature out. Sometimes the deck was just too slow to pull out a win. Adding in Aviary Mechanic feels like it has boosted the win percentage a little bit in terms of just being an additional body to beat down with and a creature that does something even if you don't have Reality Acid in hand.

It feels great in decks that want to bounce things but also want to be aggressive.

Quote from egg_chen »

I just don't know if blink decks have enough room for it. On less you're thinking of shifting to mono white and maybe looking at trying to use that guy that gets pumped every time a creature leaves play.

Maybe something with
ninth bridge patrol
Kor skyfisher
Whitemane lion
Aviary mechanic
.........

Seems like it just won't be able to maintain board control, but could be fun

I think this is a neat idea. Ninth Bridge Patrol I think is a cool card and I could see it being run in a W/U Artifact Bounce with cards like Court Homunculous as a bounce target for Glint Hawk. You would also gain access to Momentary Blink and Dream Stalker. I would think you would want some more powerful ETB effects to replicate too though. Lone Missionary is certainly something. Thraben Inspector could also be something.

Maybe go full Jeskai and add Flayer Husk and Reckless Fireweaver?

Is T1: Thraben Inspector -> T2: Ninth Bridge Patrol -> T3: Aviary Mechanic/Kor Skyfisher to bounce and replay Thraben Inspector (or Glint Hawk w/ Court Homunculous) good enough?

Quote from Korhal »

My thoughts go in a similar direction as egg_chen. The mechanic is white and the ability by it self is the best of it's kind because the bounce effect is optional and not as narrow as the abilities of the whitemane lion or the glint hawk. That means it opens new directions for brewing for decks that want to bounce different card types such as enchantments. You can now effectively mix different card types you want to bounce. Up to now you had to chose blue for skyfisher 5-8. With the aviary mechanic you could make a GW enchanted kitty. There is a nice interaction between the mechanic, kor skyfisher, heliod's pilgrim, hobble, auramancer and abundant growth.

Yeah! That's kind of what I'm talking about. Throw in Centaur Healer as a decent efficient body and great ETB effect.

Reference: Aviary Mechanic

Aviary Mechanic 1W
When Aviary Mechanic enters the battlefield, you may return another permanent you control to its owner's hand.
2/2

Considering how much of Pauper is ruled/built upon cards like Kor Skyfisher, Glint Hawk, and even Dream Stalker, its a wonder this guy hasn't already made some kind of impact. Sure, it doesn't fly but it is a 2/2 AND its ability is optional! That's right, you don't HAVE to use it!

I think this is great for decks like Acid Trip which were already on the edge of competitive as it is. Now, instead of running cards like Momentary Blink, you can max out on creatures which makes the deck more resilient to removal because you aren't worried about your lack of creatures. It also means that the deck can occasionally take aggressive starts by laying out a Mechanic instead of taking a tempo loss on Stalker and Skyfisher.

I'm curious what other decks and strategies now benefit from this guy that might want what he can do. Various "Kitty" decks already exist that abuse the bounce power to create card draw. Do those decks want additional copies?

Quote from Wes0SPECTRALself »

Stratus walker seems good but I've personally never been a big fan of mega morph cards. That said it might work I'm more of a red or black player than I am blue. Grand architect might work just wish we got a little more value from him. In all honesty through my testing here is what I know.

You must protect delver no matter what. That's the reason I ran judge's familiar
Second from my prospective it seems like the deck wants to get in with creatures early and finish later with burn. That's just my take from my build. The problem I ran into was I just didn't have enough to end the game at times.

What's your opinion on this. Brew and switch it up all you want as I said I'm not and expert. Good luck on your changes and share them with us. Tell us how you experience the deck. Going to test now.

id like to also note you talk about leaving open mana which makes since , you cant cast mana leak without mana . this deck has just frustrated me through its development . i do love farie conclave though excellent. the deck also suffers from a board wipe, if that happens its game over. maybe master of waves? i dunno just wish there was a obvious answer for a closing card.

The Megamorph cards do require a lot of patience, I will say that. Here's the problem I have with them: I like them but I don't think the deck can support both Stratus Dancer AND Shorecrasher Elemental. I really think you kind of have to pick one or the other. Truth be told, I would pick the Elemental. Dancer is great but you don't rally want to flip it up unless you can get value but that time may never come before you need to start applying pressure for a beat down and that requires you to have already tapped out in a lot of cases to prepare for preparation. Its great because of its body, evasion, versatility, and value. Its bad because it can cause you to slow roll yourself into an unfavorable position trying to milk value from the card lest you flip it only to see it bolted immediately. That is where the elemental shines. Its a Morph card you never play face down. You always play the Elemental face up and flip it down if it gets targeted and then flip it face up on end step to start the beat down. You can sink as much mana as you want or need into it to close the game out more quickly. Unlike Dancer, Elemental is a real finisher.

Dimensional Infiltrator is a card worth looking at because it has Flash, which is really the speed this deck wants to operate at. I like it because it has a chance to protect itself without spending an additional card even if its not a great chance. That makes it kind of a odd mix between a crappy version of Delver and Elemental combined into one card. While its a crappier version of the other cards, it combines some of their better traits into one body. Those traits being Evasion (Delver), Self-Protecting (Elemental) and rewarding you for holding up mana (Elemental), and easy to play and still hold up mana (Delver since its only 1cmc anyway).

You could compare that to Rattlechains as well. Rattlechains has the same body and is untargetable the turn it lands but the problem is that it requires other cards to protect itself. You could then add Mausoleum Wanderer as your fourth creature (I wouldn't run more than 16 and you are likely going to want 4 of each). Wanderer and Rattlechains do a great job of protecting each other and helping to protect your other creatures as well. I'm not sure that you would want to play either of these cards by themselves as I kind of feel like they are each other's best reason to play each other.

I guess maybe if I were going to suggest a creature suite I would probably go with something like:

In this list I'm not sure that Rattlechains is what you want but I can't really think of anything better either.

OR



A card I would love to see in this deck is Smuggler's Copter. It loots to improve draws. Its hard to remove. It beats down pretty well in the air. The problem is that in order to make it worth it you need to run more creatures than Delver really wants you to. I might test something like:



You would have a ton of creature based disruption but the creatures themselves kind of suck on beat down so you aren't losing anything to crew up the Copter so then you can also sac them to protect the copter as well. It could be hilarious or terrible lol.

Quote from StompBee »

Great to see you're still on Boros humans, I also still play the deck and it's performing spectacular. Metallic Mimic was an insta-fit for us and shines with Gather the Townsfolk, Hanweir Garrison and Abzan Falconer. Kari Zev, Skyship Raider didn't convince me yet, but I still have her in my list because I want her to be good But as a 4-of I'm pretty sure that's too much. Her Expertise is a great card, but I didn't try it in the deck. Here's my list (lands were still on budget, but the deck is running so I neglected a bit to optimize, same with SB):

DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures 27 4 Thraben Inspector 4 Champion of the Parish 3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros 4 Metallic Mimic 4 Thalia's Lieutenant 1 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider 4 Hanweir Garrison 3 Abzan Falconer	Sorceries 4 4 Gather the Townsfolk Instants 8 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Path to Exile Lands 21 4 Clifftop Retreat 4 Inspiring Vantage 4 Sacred Foundry 7 Plains 1 Mountain 1 Hanweir Battlements	Sideboard 15 3 Blood Moon 3 Pithing Needle 3 Burrenton Forge-Tender 3 Rest in Peace 3 Wear // Tear

Falconer is some spicy tech with all the +1/+1 counters flying around! I LOVE the idea.

In the build I suggested, there were 2 reasons I went with 4x Kari Zev. My experience with Kytheon is that he often dies fast enough that having multiples has not been a problem because, again, he just dies super fast. I have a feeling that will be the case with Kari as well. The second reason is because I wanted to try and max out the number of spells I can cast off of Expertise.

I'm thinking the ideal line of play would be something like Champion -> Mauler -> Expertise dropping Lieutenant w/ Haste. By turn 3 that's like 12 damage not including whatever creature you were able to grab? Most lines of play should be capable of doing roughly that with the build I suggested. I could see maybe dropping 1 Kari Zev and going up 1 Expertise?

I just love the idea of Lieutenant & Mimic with Kari Zev. Being an evasive First Striker that you can pump plus her token means she could potentially hit pretty hard for a 2 drop, like a baby Garrison almost.

Granted the 2cmc concentric build is probably just for testing. Hanweir Garrison is a super powerful card that can wins games all by itself in some cases. I can't imagine dropping it.

RE: Green
I don't want to discourage people from playing Green, in fact I know a lot of people gravitate to it because of Mayor of Abarbruk but I honestly don't think that green's card are powerful/impactful enough to make it as competitive as red is. Hanweir Garrison and Lightning Mauler are the reasons to play Humans IMO. Gaining access to Lightning Bolt in an aggro deck is clutch for close out games. I just can't imagine this deck having a prayer without those elements. Humans are not individually powerful enough to make the long game happen in Modern. There are just too many powerful things floating around to have a chance at that.

Quote from CavalryWolfPack »

I've been thinking about it too. It looks incredibly powerful, being able to jam potentially five tokens for four mana. Let's not forget that it is also situationally useful due tous needing cards in hand in order to make it work.

Even with an empty hand, how much worse is it than Spectral Procession? Procession is WWW unless you only have access to two white then its the same as Expertise. I guess Procession produces fliers which is something to consider but again, how much worse is it really? Something else to consider is that Procession isn't castable off of Expertise so they fill the same role.

Also, I guess one of the things that I also like about it is that sometimes you end up in awkward plays where you have to choose between advancing your board or dropping an anthem. Expertise let's you do both. I honestly think that is the best part of this card.

I just wish Ajani, Caller of the Pride was playable in this deck lol. Though Brimaz, King of Oreskos is and I've seen people play him. He could be good.