I used to, but I don't any more. Trying to build a deck that was good, but not so good as to offend, is basically impossible with the constantly-shifting goal posts of new faces and new players. I play my best, and if my best is too strong, I play one of their decks.
Darksteel Ingot only in some very heavily artifact-themed decks.
Everflowing Chalice is great, just beneath the signets and talismans and Fellway IMO. 4/5. Astral Cornucopia I rate far lower, though some niche decks like it (Ad Nauseam where there's a Premium on low cmc rocks for example), so more like 2/5.
Fellwar Stone deserves a spot. It's frequently as good or better than a Talisman.
I've been playing with Jace, Vryn's Prodigy as a High Tide deck lately (highly recommended... the deck is insane), and one of the cards in the mix that has proved to be quite powerful is Meditate. Obviously, high risk high reward card, but it's been great to continue the storm at bottleknecks and Mizzix plays it as U: draw four cards. Love to hear other Mizzix pilots thoughts on it.
Labman has gone in and out of my build. Not sure how exactly I feel about him, but I feel I want a non-Reiterate win in the deck: I don't like leaning on one card to win exclusively. I think if I take Labman out I may go for the infinite turns combo.
I've been enjoying Jace in multi a lot and wanted to give him a try in Duel.
A little about my meta: it's fairly diverse, except in one department. The meta is completely overrun with Yisan elfball, to the point of making 30-40% of my local duel meta, especially as most Tasigur players jumped ship in response to impending ban.
Given this, I've been thinking of adding some elf-specific specific hate like Hibernation, Wash Out, maybe even Acid Rain. Any thoughts from Jace pilots on the Yisan/elfball matchup?
Resolving a Reiterate infinite online sounds painful.
Mizzix is suddenly quite popular locally, so I'm on holiday with the deck for a while too. I've been looking at what others are brewing with Mizzix so hopefully new ideas will popping up as people start exploring this general.
The new Toad looks amazing... actually Mizzix to Toad makes a lot of sense. Both are generals that warp the normal rules of game in weird ways once they're out and enable strange combos.
Cradle is by far the best green-making land. It's obscene and if it ever gets banned, I won't be happy, but I'll understand. Most of the land tutors in green decks are just there for finding it. Its closest relative is Nykthos, Shrine To Nyx, which is none the less much weaker.
I would avoid the karoo lands generally: they don't give you ramp because of the return to hand clause. There is really only one sol land that goes in almost every green deck Ancient Tomb. Two life is nothing in a forty life format when it puts you that far ahead. Crystal Vein has some niche uses in some decks too, namely Titania, Protector Of Argoth, but consider it carefully. Very slow decks can play Temple of the False God, but I don't really like it given the other options.
Green has endless options for more mana, though. Nature's Lore and its dozen or so variants. Birds of Paradise and the other one cmc dorks. Green Sun's Zenith/Dryad Arbor. Exploration and friends. And of course, all the good mana rocks every color has access to. Green's draw is somewhat conditional and its creature removal is weak, but I never hurt for mana playing green.
I've been playing Yisan on and off since November and I really feel he is the best mono green general at the moment. Unfortunately there aren't really multiplayer EDH tournaments around where I can test him, but I've gone 2-1 and 3-0 with him regularly at FNM against competitive decks.
I see you're running Concordant Crossroads but I'd definitely recommend Lightning Greaves as well. It's really not so much for protecting Yisan (though that works) as being a haste enabler for dorks without the scary downside of Concordant. It's worth it for shortening and cheapening the Temur Sabertooth loops alone (any dork that taps for 3 or more goes infinite with Greaves or Concordant), and even aside from that it can do a lot more.
I have a strong preference for Whisperwood Elemental over Soul Of New Phyrexia. I found typically if there isn't a wrath happening I'm not bringing out Soul and indestructible is rarely relevant otherwise, plus even in this deck with it's crazy mana the activation cost is a little steep at times. Additionally I'm fond of Loaming Shaman as both a response to graveyard-based combo and as a kind of Elixir of Immortality effect to set us up post wrath for tutoring the creatures we want out with Yisan again.
Lion's Eye Diamond is an interesting card on your list for sure, and definitely one work looking into, though the downside is huge here with the refills in storm builds. I'd probably put in Lotus Petal and Elvish Spirit Guide ahead of that for reasons of caution. I strongly recommend Mox Diamond and Chrome Mox, though: the card disadvantage is small when it pushes your deck further towards a reliable turn two Yisan and more frequent turn one Yisan (such bliss).
How have you been finding the Kamahl/Devoted Druid combo? It's one I'm considering trying out.
Umbral Mantle is one of the easiest combo pieces in Yisan so I strongly recommend running it.
I'm coming around to running Regal Force as the only seven drop. I've played with both Avenger and Hornet Queen in that slot and so far their uses have been very niche and the extra bodies on the field for Craterhoof just unnecessary.
Using Yisan, The Wanderer Bard to put out Craterhoof Behemoth in response to a Blasphemous Act (I had twelve creatures out, so everything lived), the returning him to my hand with Temur Sabertooth to be able to cast him the next turn. I love how responsive Yisan allows green to be; it never gets old.
You don't really need blue for card advantage, especially for a more casual deck. Green has lots of great draw like Shamanic Revelation, Elemental Bond, Garruk's Packleader , Life's Legacy, and even Hunter's Insight (which is about as Vorthos a draw spell as you could want in a werewolf deck). Magic's werewolves are all either green, red, or black, and the black ones are pretty bad so you'd be forgiven for leaving those out, though for a Jund werewolf generals Adun Oakenshield, Xira Arien, and Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper all work in different ways. I'd consider using Xenagos, God Of Revels as the general for Gruul colors, though Radha and Ruric make a lot of sense, too.
As an update, I've streamlined my deck a bit and upped the countermagic a little, and found it's a bit safer to lean on just a few wincons than I'd initially thought. My Teferi at the moment is a little like Azami decks except replace Mind Over Matter with The Chain Veil.
I'm a huge fan of Yisan, The Wanderer Bard. My regular, optimized build is about $800 but almost all of that is in special lands and fast artifact mana. I made a budget build that got it down to about $95, and it still works really, really well. He is a lot fun, quite fast, but rarely feels "unfair".
Great list! I've started piloting this deck and it's a lot of fun, albeit somewhat strange in that you have a fifteen minute turn after Ad Nauseum resolves. It's really you versus your deck as much as you versus the opponents.
I used to, but I don't any more. Trying to build a deck that was good, but not so good as to offend, is basically impossible with the constantly-shifting goal posts of new faces and new players. I play my best, and if my best is too strong, I play one of their decks.
Three Visits is a $30 Nature's Lore that was printed at common originally. Very much a worthwhile reprint.
Darksteel Ingot only in some very heavily artifact-themed decks.
Everflowing Chalice is great, just beneath the signets and talismans and Fellway IMO. 4/5. Astral Cornucopia I rate far lower, though some niche decks like it (Ad Nauseam where there's a Premium on low cmc rocks for example), so more like 2/5.
Fellwar Stone deserves a spot. It's frequently as good or better than a Talisman.
I've been playing with Jace, Vryn's Prodigy as a High Tide deck lately (highly recommended... the deck is insane), and one of the cards in the mix that has proved to be quite powerful is Meditate. Obviously, high risk high reward card, but it's been great to continue the storm at bottleknecks and Mizzix plays it as U: draw four cards. Love to hear other Mizzix pilots thoughts on it.
Labman has gone in and out of my build. Not sure how exactly I feel about him, but I feel I want a non-Reiterate win in the deck: I don't like leaning on one card to win exclusively. I think if I take Labman out I may go for the infinite turns combo.
I've been enjoying Jace in multi a lot and wanted to give him a try in Duel.
A little about my meta: it's fairly diverse, except in one department. The meta is completely overrun with Yisan elfball, to the point of making 30-40% of my local duel meta, especially as most Tasigur players jumped ship in response to impending ban.
Given this, I've been thinking of adding some elf-specific specific hate like Hibernation, Wash Out, maybe even Acid Rain. Any thoughts from Jace pilots on the Yisan/elfball matchup?
Mizzix is suddenly quite popular locally, so I'm on holiday with the deck for a while too. I've been looking at what others are brewing with Mizzix so hopefully new ideas will popping up as people start exploring this general.
The new Toad looks amazing... actually Mizzix to Toad makes a lot of sense. Both are generals that warp the normal rules of game in weird ways once they're out and enable strange combos.
Cradle is by far the best green-making land. It's obscene and if it ever gets banned, I won't be happy, but I'll understand. Most of the land tutors in green decks are just there for finding it. Its closest relative is Nykthos, Shrine To Nyx, which is none the less much weaker.
I would avoid the karoo lands generally: they don't give you ramp because of the return to hand clause. There is really only one sol land that goes in almost every green deck Ancient Tomb. Two life is nothing in a forty life format when it puts you that far ahead. Crystal Vein has some niche uses in some decks too, namely Titania, Protector Of Argoth, but consider it carefully. Very slow decks can play Temple of the False God, but I don't really like it given the other options.
Green has endless options for more mana, though. Nature's Lore and its dozen or so variants. Birds of Paradise and the other one cmc dorks. Green Sun's Zenith/Dryad Arbor. Exploration and friends. And of course, all the good mana rocks every color has access to. Green's draw is somewhat conditional and its creature removal is weak, but I never hurt for mana playing green.
Happy to see a busy thread on Yisan here!
I've been playing Yisan on and off since November and I really feel he is the best mono green general at the moment. Unfortunately there aren't really multiplayer EDH tournaments around where I can test him, but I've gone 2-1 and 3-0 with him regularly at FNM against competitive decks.
I see you're running Concordant Crossroads but I'd definitely recommend Lightning Greaves as well. It's really not so much for protecting Yisan (though that works) as being a haste enabler for dorks without the scary downside of Concordant. It's worth it for shortening and cheapening the Temur Sabertooth loops alone (any dork that taps for 3 or more goes infinite with Greaves or Concordant), and even aside from that it can do a lot more.
I have a strong preference for Whisperwood Elemental over Soul Of New Phyrexia. I found typically if there isn't a wrath happening I'm not bringing out Soul and indestructible is rarely relevant otherwise, plus even in this deck with it's crazy mana the activation cost is a little steep at times. Additionally I'm fond of Loaming Shaman as both a response to graveyard-based combo and as a kind of Elixir of Immortality effect to set us up post wrath for tutoring the creatures we want out with Yisan again.
Lion's Eye Diamond is an interesting card on your list for sure, and definitely one work looking into, though the downside is huge here with the refills in storm builds. I'd probably put in Lotus Petal and Elvish Spirit Guide ahead of that for reasons of caution. I strongly recommend Mox Diamond and Chrome Mox, though: the card disadvantage is small when it pushes your deck further towards a reliable turn two Yisan and more frequent turn one Yisan (such bliss).
How have you been finding the Kamahl/Devoted Druid combo? It's one I'm considering trying out.
Umbral Mantle is one of the easiest combo pieces in Yisan so I strongly recommend running it.
I'm coming around to running Regal Force as the only seven drop. I've played with both Avenger and Hornet Queen in that slot and so far their uses have been very niche and the extra bodies on the field for Craterhoof just unnecessary.
Using Yisan, The Wanderer Bard to put out Craterhoof Behemoth in response to a Blasphemous Act (I had twelve creatures out, so everything lived), the returning him to my hand with Temur Sabertooth to be able to cast him the next turn. I love how responsive Yisan allows green to be; it never gets old.
You don't really need blue for card advantage, especially for a more casual deck. Green has lots of great draw like Shamanic Revelation, Elemental Bond, Garruk's Packleader , Life's Legacy, and even Hunter's Insight (which is about as Vorthos a draw spell as you could want in a werewolf deck). Magic's werewolves are all either green, red, or black, and the black ones are pretty bad so you'd be forgiven for leaving those out, though for a Jund werewolf generals Adun Oakenshield, Xira Arien, and Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper all work in different ways. I'd consider using Xenagos, God Of Revels as the general for Gruul colors, though Radha and Ruric make a lot of sense, too.
Mono white has problems with card draw generally, so take some consolation that it's not just you and most mono white decks face this issue.
Skullclamp is a reliable reusable card draw in mono white tokens whenever Elesh isn't out.
Martyr's Cry is very high risk for potentially high reward.
Land Tax/Scroll Rack is easily the most powerful card draw combination in mono white, but not always easy to get out.
This thread is back from the dead!
As an update, I've streamlined my deck a bit and upped the countermagic a little, and found it's a bit safer to lean on just a few wincons than I'd initially thought. My Teferi at the moment is a little like Azami decks except replace Mind Over Matter with The Chain Veil.
I'm a huge fan of Yisan, The Wanderer Bard. My regular, optimized build is about $800 but almost all of that is in special lands and fast artifact mana. I made a budget build that got it down to about $95, and it still works really, really well. He is a lot fun, quite fast, but rarely feels "unfair".
Great list! I've started piloting this deck and it's a lot of fun, albeit somewhat strange in that you have a fifteen minute turn after Ad Nauseum resolves. It's really you versus your deck as much as you versus the opponents.