Hahahah I love the idea, specially because I'm an izzet fan all the way there are many points I'd like to discuss in this deck, it seems is missing up potential, I'm watching it in many angles, you may take what you seem fit for your style
Fated Infatuation doesn't seem to have a real role in here. Your only target is Izzet Staticaster, which totally sucks, because Keranos or Niv Mizzet will simply die of legendary rule. I would take them out and put 2 Magma Jet and one Aetherling on their place instead, Magma Jet deals with early creatures, gives you the scry, and could work to finish up your opponent when he/she is low too. Aetherling is an alternate win-con in case they Deicide your Keranos, your main win con.
Also, you're playing blue, you don't need Mizzium Skin. Dissolve or Negate are way better cards that will do the same job and more. Finally, 2 Ratchet Bomb instead of Volcanic Geyser (believe me, it sucks most of the time) works pretty awesome as sideboard material against many things, like blue devotion, RG monsters, or sometimes against other planeswalkers your opponent could play, is just a matter of knowing how to play it and when to place counters or not. You have 4 copies of Gorgon's Head, you won't miss a lot one if it gets killed because you'll draw another one eventually in case of hydras.
Cards that may catch up your attention: Spite of Mogis: Useless cards early game, but after a few spells played, it gets more and more useful, able to deal with many creatures, including the big ones, for the cost of 1 mana, which leaves you free mana for countering. Ah, and it also comes with a scry 1. Spellheart Chimera: This is another wincon by itself, you just place it and protect it all the way while pumping it at the same time. Anger of the Gods: Burn everything!! That's all I may say. It is also more powerful now that many decks will be running Athreos, God of Passage, so they are totally gone for good. Steam Augury: With some suggestions up there, Steam Augury would become more powerful, since it lets you fill your graveyard so, spells like Spellheart Chimera or Spite of Mogis get better and better.
I hope one or two suggestions here work for you cheers!
Id heavily recommend Ratchet Bomb in your sideboard, it deals with many situations, and is a pain in the arse for decks like Blue Devotion and RG Monsters, where you just simply kill all their tokens or all their mana dorks. Also, this deck doesn't have ways to deal with topdecked planeswalkers, which may ruin up your day. Banishing Light not only helps against this, but against any kind of non-land permanent they drop down, no matter if it is Trading Post, Polukranos, World Eater, Blind Obedience or Desecration Demon, is a swiss-army-knife that you can't miss up
Edited the example decks with Journey into Nyx cards. Take a look at them, and see if you can get any inspiration. Green seems more promising now, you can bet it
wanna stick with the mono white, wat to take out for ajani?
Fabled Hero Ajani makes any of your heroics a Fabled Heroes anyway... You could make space for Spear of Heliod by removing Ajani's Presence. Now that you're on white, and it seems you have more than enough protections, you can try out Deicide, I'm sure it will be a good sideboard option for this new meta. Also, you may also switch Glare of Heresy for Banishing Light.
Also, and it is only a little suggestion; I guess Tethmos High Priest could find a place on your deck, probably as a sideboard option for the second match, where they start up packing removals and so. It just makes armies out of nowhere in this type of deck
I wonder, what do you think about the new cards released in Nyx? Do you think there is a chance for bestow to shine?
I consider black&white to be the best colors for bestow, since they have Orzhov Charm, which is just an awesome toolbox that can prevent the famous 2-for-1 trades. Also, Athreos, God of Passage seems to be something for a w/b aggro bestow deck to work better. This means, they have to eat a bolt or let your weenies come back to hand, and not only that, if they are bestowed, you still have creatures on the field, so they have to deal with that too, and the fact you can bestow them again, or keep losing life.
Gnarled Scarhide is a great t1 drop, with the added to have bestow, working very well with Hero of Iroas. Also Underworld Coinsmith works well with all those enchantment creatures, Ethereal Armor and now Banishing Light. Topdecking this guy is not half bad, since you can use all your mana excess to drain your opponent's life, which makes the archetype more viable in my opinion.
I will testing this out, posted my decklist on the heroics thread: I would like to read from you if you consider this archetype can become something more than a Tier2.
I'm contemplating swapping Nivmagus Elemental for Akroan Skyguard; due to the Nivmagus Elemental not having heroic, but it seems handy to be able to sac spells into it if the spell target gets destroyed.
The skyguard though will give added reach as it has good evasion
3 spots left, possibly anger of the gods for when my heroic creatures get past 3 defense?
Thought and SB help would be fantastic, thanks!
Anger of the Gods doesn't seem like a good option, most of the time it will affect you as well. I'd go for Banishing Light, which will help you to remove anything that is threatening you or slowing you down. And for another creature, I'd suggest Satyr Hoplite. It comes 1 turn earlier than skyguard, although it doesn't have the evasion, it will improve your deck speed overall.
I’m really unsure about cutting the number of Hopeful Eidolon – incidental lifegain is one of the deck’s hidden strengths. It lets us race with near-impunity, and allows us to use Pain Seer more liberally. And I’ve never cared much for Tormented Hero, as it’s a horrible topdeck. If you don’t see Hero turn 1, it loses a lot of its value. I’d cut a pair of them for the remaining two Eidolons. Besides – it makes those Ethereal Armor openers more likely.
I wasn’t able to get to a prerelease, so I had zero modifications to my list when I headed into FNM this past Friday. I still managed a 3-1-1 record (somehow), which leads me to think that I should start experimenting with some of the new toys JOU gives us:
Athreos, God of Passage is the biggest one, obviously. I do like it, I just don’t feel it’s good in a ton of matchups right now. I like it vs. control and that’s about it. I’m going to test 2 in the sideboard over Profit/Loss.
Gnarled Scarhide is an awesome one-drop, and I want to try it out. I currently use 3 Favored Hoplite in my list as supplemental 1-drops to Hopeful Eidolon, so I’ll swap in 3 Scarhides there for testing.
Underworld Coinsmith… I know, right? This card excites me because I think it’s exactly what this deck was looking for. It’s an enchantment that plays well with other enchantments, so it and Ethereal Armor are best buddies. It’s a black multicolored creature, so it avoids Doom Blade and Ultimate Price. And that draining ability works well with stuff like Orzhov Charm and Gods Willing, as it allows us to make full use of our mana every turn. (And with all of our lifegain, it’s easy to come out ahead on this.)
Coinsmith is going to replace Fabled Hero for me. I like the Hero a lot because he basically wins the game if you get to untap with him, but therein lies the issue – I NEVER untap with him. And now I’ve wasted a turn on this vulnerable 3-drop. I’m hoping Coinsmith will perform.
Underworld Coinsmith seems very interesting indeed, more in the build you're using, since it can drain those last points of life out of nowhere in mid-game/endgame. My deck goes well with Tormented Hero in my build, since I need an ensured T1 drop to get fast, and topdecking it isn't that bad either, since I usually don't deplet my hand with this deck, I always have 1 or 2 bestows I can use for him later, so having the draining isn't bad at all. Even if our decks look similar, they indeed work differently, yours having a strong midrange style, while I took an aggro path instead, with chance to win in midgame and endgame also. Anyway, coinsmith is very likely to replace my Fiendslayer Paladin post-rotation, if nothing better comes up on M15 or next block.
I played it before JOU, but then that set came with Launch the Fleet. Now its all-in on creating a huge amount of tokens and pumping them up.
The three drops in this deck are so split because they are all legendary and I don't want them to sit dead in my hand.
I really like what I see here. I would only suggest to have more creatures than enablers. I'd either change Coordinated Assault or Martial Glory for Satyr Hoplite or Soldier of the Pantheon. The soldier works better against UW control and slow decks overall, while the hoplite also has heroics, so is up to you
Thank you for sharing the deck, seems pretty consistent, like it a lot, more because it resembles my voltron a lot, hahah.
I will try something a little different for Nyx metagame, and will make use of some interesting cards that come for orzhov.
Making it more aggro, having beastly openings with Ethereal Armor. I don't like to have multiple Pain Seer in my hand, so 2 or 3 are ok, to not overflow (at least it works better for me in that way), and Athreos plays pretty well with all the weenies there. I may just sideboard it in case I'm going against aggro, to get the other Hopeful Eidolon and the 2 Gift of Orzhova. Banishing Light is an awesome "comeback", now more useful to pump up our armor, or get the devotion for Athreos, while it removes everything we need to, something white was asking so bad. If enchantment removal doesn't become a thing, this can be better option than Ultimate Price, Revoke Existence or Deicide
I'm feeling an all-in white weenie strategy with this god, with 16 1-drops. Athreos gives an impressive amount of reach and pretty much allows all your durdles to swing in with abandon.
I'm pretty sure your deck could make use of Phalanx Leader and Launch the Fleet in very awesome ways.
I see it more for modern or EDH rather than standard. Not only comboes with the aura, but with Arcbound Crusher with the overall strategy. You sweep the field with Midas, and Crusher deals serious damage then. Sadly, we're just talking about really synergistic cards, nothing which can get bonkers and give the victory on that turn.
It's funny, because Aura of Dominion costs 1 to activate, and Midas makes his own gold to pay that cost as many times as creatures you want to transmute
The funniest part is that you can't blend it on the same EDH if Midas is your general, darn x.x
I like it, awesome for Animar.
So it triggers upon casting. What will happen if the Hydra gets countered? Will X become zero because the spell is no longer on the stack?
Nope, you still put the permanent, since this triggers when you cast it, and before the opponent can counter it anyway, so X is still X value. Have fun with animar
Would bioshift be an option? You can move counters from one target to another while adding additional counters onto each target.
Yes, that would be an interesting option. Another which I like most, is the Forced Adaptation, as nightyxx pointed out. Having two on your sage means, you only need to trigger Ajani's +1 to have the exact 5 counters to make the magic happen, while Bioshift only works once, so I'm more inclined to the enchantment.
Anyway, I like how this card is the answer for midrange that aggro needs. Definitely I can see this as a sideboard for golgari/jund aggro decks, those ones have tons of creatures, and, if you're not having any in your graveyard, you must be probably winning because you are keeping all of them dealing damage to your opponent, which is how aggro works.
Now then, if they drop something powerful, they will have a bad day, because you can instantly block with a 1/1 deathtouch, which doesn't cost you a card on your hand, and you keep your army in a decent size too (if you're also enchanting them with things like Madcap Skills or combat tricks as Titan's Strength).
People thinks is bad because it doesn't wins games by itself, but it isn't meant for it, but to have an answer against midrange, which is usually aggro's worst matchup. Also, playing around her could be something like, playing Blood Bairn, which can help you to switch your devotion, so Pharika can be a creature or not depending your needs (on a certain extend), you're not losing so much sacrificing because you're giving Pharika some materials to work with, she just doesn't work as nice as Athreos in that terms.
Didn't read it all, but Athreos must be the god with more control about its enchantment/creature condition. You just need some creatures that can auto-sac others so, Athreos is never in danger of being removed by creature spells.
To make it clearlier, examples as Blood Bairn and Cartel Aristocrat (the most realistic ones, since they are on his colors without mixing-up others, make this possible. You can play aggro, and have the devotion enough to make Athreos a creature, and then use it to attack. In case some creature removal points at him, you can use your other creatures to sac enough so devotion resets and he is no longer a creature again. For me, this is a really interesting and unique attribute on him, you can play around him being an enchantment or an enchantment creature, with less risks than the other gods, in a cool and elegant way in terms of reusability or utility. Erebos or Phenax gain nothing on this, and the other one, Pharika, gets more fodder for her deadly snakes, but definitely, Athreos makes the best use of this mechanic.
Ajani, Mentor of Heroes 3GW
Planeswalker - Ajani
+1: Distribute three +1/+1 counters among one, two, or three target creatures you control
+1: Look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal an Aura, creature, or planeswalker card from among them and put that card into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
-8: You gain 100 life.
/4
As we can see, Ajani now splashes green, and is for a creature-based deck. It also works with auras and other planeswalkers, so although it doesn't defend itself, it relies on the overall deck build to protect him by playing creatures each turn, or make them bulkier. This card may come in handy for some heroic builds, although it doesn't trigger anything at all.
Sage of Hours 1U
Creature - Human Wizard
Heroic - Whenever you cast a spell that targets Sage of Hours, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Remove all +1/+1 counters from Sage of Hours: For each five counters removed this way, take an extra turn after this one.
1/1
The first mythic, and most interesting, heroic creature out there, and for a reason. As you can see in its flavor, you can abuse of a +1/+1 counters engine to take infinite turns, which seems restricted by removing all the counters when you activate its ability. Well, we have an interesting way to exploit this feature, and is with Vorel and the new Ajani.
How it works?
In a good situation, you can play Vorel and Sage of Hours in the early turns, by turn 5 drop Ajani. For this turn, you would ideally like to have UG available or have your sage with 2 +1/+1 counters already, so we can start the fun. Ajani's +1 will place 3 +1/´1 counters on the sage, which can remove all of them to take an extra turn. Next turn, you put the +1/+1 counters again, tap vorel to make them six, and remove them all to take a new turn. You can even swing for 7 each combat phase and then remove the +1/+1 counters (be careful on not having your sage killed in the process), so this is basically an insta-win, in a very fashioned style which only bant can give us in standard right now
It has other win conditions as well, but it mainly focus on getting the infinite combo, which ensures the win. Ordeal of Nylea helps us to place Ajani faster than expected, or place it with extra spare mana to use Vorel's ability. Other ordeals can work as well, having Heliod being good against aggro, and Thassa's one in place we need to dig in for the combo.
Fated Infatuation doesn't seem to have a real role in here. Your only target is Izzet Staticaster, which totally sucks, because Keranos or Niv Mizzet will simply die of legendary rule. I would take them out and put 2 Magma Jet and one Aetherling on their place instead, Magma Jet deals with early creatures, gives you the scry, and could work to finish up your opponent when he/she is low too. Aetherling is an alternate win-con in case they Deicide your Keranos, your main win con.
Also, you're playing blue, you don't need Mizzium Skin. Dissolve or Negate are way better cards that will do the same job and more. Finally, 2 Ratchet Bomb instead of Volcanic Geyser (believe me, it sucks most of the time) works pretty awesome as sideboard material against many things, like blue devotion, RG monsters, or sometimes against other planeswalkers your opponent could play, is just a matter of knowing how to play it and when to place counters or not. You have 4 copies of Gorgon's Head, you won't miss a lot one if it gets killed because you'll draw another one eventually in case of hydras.
Cards that may catch up your attention:
Spite of Mogis: Useless cards early game, but after a few spells played, it gets more and more useful, able to deal with many creatures, including the big ones, for the cost of 1 mana, which leaves you free mana for countering. Ah, and it also comes with a scry 1.
Spellheart Chimera: This is another wincon by itself, you just place it and protect it all the way while pumping it at the same time.
Anger of the Gods: Burn everything!! That's all I may say. It is also more powerful now that many decks will be running Athreos, God of Passage, so they are totally gone for good.
Steam Augury: With some suggestions up there, Steam Augury would become more powerful, since it lets you fill your graveyard so, spells like Spellheart Chimera or Spite of Mogis get better and better.
I hope one or two suggestions here work for you cheers!
Fabled Hero Ajani makes any of your heroics a Fabled Heroes anyway... You could make space for Spear of Heliod by removing Ajani's Presence. Now that you're on white, and it seems you have more than enough protections, you can try out Deicide, I'm sure it will be a good sideboard option for this new meta. Also, you may also switch Glare of Heresy for Banishing Light.
Also, and it is only a little suggestion; I guess Tethmos High Priest could find a place on your deck, probably as a sideboard option for the second match, where they start up packing removals and so. It just makes armies out of nowhere in this type of deck
I consider black&white to be the best colors for bestow, since they have Orzhov Charm, which is just an awesome toolbox that can prevent the famous 2-for-1 trades. Also, Athreos, God of Passage seems to be something for a w/b aggro bestow deck to work better. This means, they have to eat a bolt or let your weenies come back to hand, and not only that, if they are bestowed, you still have creatures on the field, so they have to deal with that too, and the fact you can bestow them again, or keep losing life.
Gnarled Scarhide is a great t1 drop, with the added to have bestow, working very well with Hero of Iroas. Also Underworld Coinsmith works well with all those enchantment creatures, Ethereal Armor and now Banishing Light. Topdecking this guy is not half bad, since you can use all your mana excess to drain your opponent's life, which makes the archetype more viable in my opinion.
I will testing this out, posted my decklist on the heroics thread: I would like to read from you if you consider this archetype can become something more than a Tier2.
Anger of the Gods doesn't seem like a good option, most of the time it will affect you as well. I'd go for Banishing Light, which will help you to remove anything that is threatening you or slowing you down. And for another creature, I'd suggest Satyr Hoplite. It comes 1 turn earlier than skyguard, although it doesn't have the evasion, it will improve your deck speed overall.
Underworld Coinsmith seems very interesting indeed, more in the build you're using, since it can drain those last points of life out of nowhere in mid-game/endgame. My deck goes well with Tormented Hero in my build, since I need an ensured T1 drop to get fast, and topdecking it isn't that bad either, since I usually don't deplet my hand with this deck, I always have 1 or 2 bestows I can use for him later, so having the draining isn't bad at all. Even if our decks look similar, they indeed work differently, yours having a strong midrange style, while I took an aggro path instead, with chance to win in midgame and endgame also. Anyway, coinsmith is very likely to replace my Fiendslayer Paladin post-rotation, if nothing better comes up on M15 or next block.
I really like what I see here. I would only suggest to have more creatures than enablers. I'd either change Coordinated Assault or Martial Glory for Satyr Hoplite or Soldier of the Pantheon. The soldier works better against UW control and slow decks overall, while the hoplite also has heroics, so is up to you
Thank you for sharing the deck, seems pretty consistent, like it a lot, more because it resembles my voltron a lot, hahah.
I will try something a little different for Nyx metagame, and will make use of some interesting cards that come for orzhov.
4 Godless Shrine
3 Temple of Silence
3 Mana Confluence
5 Plains
5 Swamp
Creatures (30)
2 Hopeful Eidolon
3 Favored Hoplite
4 Tormented Hero
4 Gnarled Scarhide
4 Hero of Iroas
3 Pain Seer
4 Eidolon of Countless Battles
3 Herald of Torment
3 Athreos, God of Passage
4 Ethereal Armor
Spells(6)
3 Gods Willing
3 Orzhov Charm
1 Hopeful Eidolon
2 Thoughtseize
3 Sin Collector
3 Fiendslayer Paladin
4 Banishing Light
2 Gift of Orzhova
Making it more aggro, having beastly openings with Ethereal Armor. I don't like to have multiple Pain Seer in my hand, so 2 or 3 are ok, to not overflow (at least it works better for me in that way), and Athreos plays pretty well with all the weenies there. I may just sideboard it in case I'm going against aggro, to get the other Hopeful Eidolon and the 2 Gift of Orzhova. Banishing Light is an awesome "comeback", now more useful to pump up our armor, or get the devotion for Athreos, while it removes everything we need to, something white was asking so bad. If enchantment removal doesn't become a thing, this can be better option than Ultimate Price, Revoke Existence or Deicide
6 Swamp
4 Plains
2 Temple of Silence
4 Mana Confluence
4 Godless Shrine
Creatures(32)
4 Gnarled Scarhide
4 Tormented Hero
4 Hopeful Eidolon
4 Hero of Iroas
4 Pain Seer
2 Spiteful Returned
4 Eidolon of Countless Battles
3 Herald of Torment
3 Athreos, God of Passage
2 Orzhov Charm
3 Launch the Fleet
3 Gods Willing
3 Bile Blight
3 Gift of Orzhova
3 Sin Collector
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 Fiendslayer Paladin
1 Revoke Existence
Either swarming or voltron tactics fit well in here, according to the match presented. Any feedback/suggestions?
I'm pretty sure your deck could make use of Phalanx Leader and Launch the Fleet in very awesome ways.
The funniest part is that you can't blend it on the same EDH if Midas is your general, darn x.x
Nope, you still put the permanent, since this triggers when you cast it, and before the opponent can counter it anyway, so X is still X value. Have fun with animar
Yes, that would be an interesting option. Another which I like most, is the Forced Adaptation, as nightyxx pointed out. Having two on your sage means, you only need to trigger Ajani's +1 to have the exact 5 counters to make the magic happen, while Bioshift only works once, so I'm more inclined to the enchantment.
Now then, if they drop something powerful, they will have a bad day, because you can instantly block with a 1/1 deathtouch, which doesn't cost you a card on your hand, and you keep your army in a decent size too (if you're also enchanting them with things like Madcap Skills or combat tricks as Titan's Strength).
People thinks is bad because it doesn't wins games by itself, but it isn't meant for it, but to have an answer against midrange, which is usually aggro's worst matchup. Also, playing around her could be something like, playing Blood Bairn, which can help you to switch your devotion, so Pharika can be a creature or not depending your needs (on a certain extend), you're not losing so much sacrificing because you're giving Pharika some materials to work with, she just doesn't work as nice as Athreos in that terms.
To make it clearlier, examples as Blood Bairn and Cartel Aristocrat (the most realistic ones, since they are on his colors without mixing-up others, make this possible. You can play aggro, and have the devotion enough to make Athreos a creature, and then use it to attack. In case some creature removal points at him, you can use your other creatures to sac enough so devotion resets and he is no longer a creature again. For me, this is a really interesting and unique attribute on him, you can play around him being an enchantment or an enchantment creature, with less risks than the other gods, in a cool and elegant way in terms of reusability or utility. Erebos or Phenax gain nothing on this, and the other one, Pharika, gets more fodder for her deadly snakes, but definitely, Athreos makes the best use of this mechanic.
- Vorel of the Hull Clade
- Sage of Hours
- Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
What does each new card does? Let's see:
Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
3GW
Planeswalker - Ajani
+1: Distribute three +1/+1 counters among one, two, or three target creatures you control
+1: Look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal an Aura, creature, or planeswalker card from among them and put that card into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
-8: You gain 100 life.
/4
As we can see, Ajani now splashes green, and is for a creature-based deck. It also works with auras and other planeswalkers, so although it doesn't defend itself, it relies on the overall deck build to protect him by playing creatures each turn, or make them bulkier. This card may come in handy for some heroic builds, although it doesn't trigger anything at all.
Sage of Hours
1U
Creature - Human Wizard
Heroic - Whenever you cast a spell that targets Sage of Hours, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Remove all +1/+1 counters from Sage of Hours: For each five counters removed this way, take an extra turn after this one.
1/1
The first mythic, and most interesting, heroic creature out there, and for a reason. As you can see in its flavor, you can abuse of a +1/+1 counters engine to take infinite turns, which seems restricted by removing all the counters when you activate its ability. Well, we have an interesting way to exploit this feature, and is with Vorel and the new Ajani.
How it works?
In a good situation, you can play Vorel and Sage of Hours in the early turns, by turn 5 drop Ajani. For this turn, you would ideally like to have UG available or have your sage with 2 +1/+1 counters already, so we can start the fun. Ajani's +1 will place 3 +1/´1 counters on the sage, which can remove all of them to take an extra turn. Next turn, you put the +1/+1 counters again, tap vorel to make them six, and remove them all to take a new turn. You can even swing for 7 each combat phase and then remove the +1/+1 counters (be careful on not having your sage killed in the process), so this is basically an insta-win, in a very fashioned style which only bant can give us in standard right now
Right now, a deck would work like this:
2 Plains
2 Forest
1 Island
4 Temple Garden
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Breeding Pool
3 Temple of Enlightment
3 Temple of Plenty
4 Favored Hoplite
4 Battlewise Hoplite
4 Sage of Hours
4 Hero of Iroas
3 Vorel of the Hull Clade
4 Eidolon of Countless Battles
4 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
Spells(2)
2 Hidden Strings
Auras(8)
4 Ordeal of Nylea
4 Unflinching Courage
It has other win conditions as well, but it mainly focus on getting the infinite combo, which ensures the win.
Ordeal of Nylea helps us to place Ajani faster than expected, or place it with extra spare mana to use Vorel's ability. Other ordeals can work as well, having Heliod being good against aggro, and Thassa's one in place we need to dig in for the combo.