I find that Saskia's face structure clearly marks her as a woman. Contrast to the guys in the background, she has less pronounced brow ridge and cheekbones. She just... has a woman's face.
My vote would be on the single-spaced look. Aside from making the sections look neater, more delineated, and concise, I find the double-spaced look actually harder to read because the negative space of the page starts overwhelming the text itself.
Returning to the topic at hand, since there's no mention about the other planeswalker in the set, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, I wanted to ask about her effectiveness for green token strategies. She's a repeatable token producer and anthem effect, so I'd think she was an okay consideration. Is that not the case?
In any case, I agree that OGW felt extremely underwhelming. I don't think I've been as unenthusiastic about a set since I started playing in Innistrad.
@SavagePopcorn: Why would you sell cards you're actually using in your deck, especially if you're planning to re-buy them right after? Whatever small profit you'd make is going to get eaten into by shipping prices, not to mention the time and effort to buy/sell at the right times. And we don't even know yet if Arcbound is getting reprinted or not.
Just keep your cards, continue working towards finishing your deck and you'll save yourself a headache and potential money loss.
First, Servitude is a Sorcery whereas Rally is an Instant. The ability to combo at instant speed if you have the pieces in the graveyard is the whole point of running Rally.
Secondly, even ignoring timing Servitude has a big problem: it only reanimates creatures with cmc X. Rally looks at cmc X or less. Considering the mana costs of the combo pieces are all over the place, Immortal Servitude seems like it would be a pretty poor choice.
This art does give Path to Exile a different flavor. It's similar to Pacifism and Swords to Plowshares where the spell essentially just makes the target creature leave/not want to fight. I like it, it's more fitting flavor for a white spell than disintegration which is more of a black/red thing.
I definitely want to get a full set of Leaf-Crowned Elders, those guys are awesome. However, with Sachi and Great Hunt, isn't the 4-drop spot getting a bit crowded if I take out the mana dorks like the Banneret?
I was unaware of those token producers that actually let you pick the token's creature type, but Soul Foundry seems really good. Rage Forger every turn? Yes please!
I have a shaman tribal deck that I've built to be able to play Modern on a budget (you can learn more about the archetype here, if you're interested). It's fun to play but as a rush aggro deck doesn't scale well to multiplayer, which is what my new playgroup gravitates towards, so I'd like to modify it so I can keep punching people with shamans - now with more players!
The basic premise of the deck is to play a bunch of creatures with the Shaman subtype, and then play Rage Forger for many damages! Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a card that produces shaman tokens yet, so I figure my best chance is to play cards that have some value in longer games.
Based on my Modern deck, this is what I'm considering as a first draft:
None of my friends play decks that are particularly high-powered (they have stuff like Boros weenie, Vampire tribal, Warrior tribal, Manifest...) and we usually have 3 or 4 player games. Are there any particular cards you guys think I should be running? Some advice for the mana curve? I'm more used to Limited and one-on-one Constructed, so I'd love to get some feedback from you guys!
I personally don't mind Burning-tree Shaman with fetches either, since it'll hit your opponent for his.
I think I'd cut the Wolf-Skull before the Visionaries, I've just never been very impressed with the former. By the way ThatStoryTeller120, I notice you took out all the Shaman of the Great Hunt. Did you feel they weren't working out, or are you just testing Collected Company in their place? (Card does seem awesome!)
Hmm, that's true about Monastery Siege. Getting more cards would definitely be better than looting. Unless...
What about adding in Tasigur somewhere? He's not a faerie (though he might be some kind of Evil Peter Pan), but he's a big creature on his own and his abilities make Cloudseeder a bit better. And he can generate some card advantage?
A good point about the Polluted Deltas; still building up my sets of fetches (thanks, Khans!) but I was thinking of replacing the Drowned Catacombs and some Swamps/Islands with them and a couple Watery Graves. Obviously the Catacombs work nicely with a fetch/shock suite but they lose their potency with more and more non-basics in the deck, and if I'm adding manlands...
Unfortunately I haven't had a whole lot of time for testing but the deck seems to hold out pretty well against aggro and midrange. My problem has just been actually switching gears to finish the game before I run out of disruption (I don't have the Mistbinds yet, those should help out a lot). I'm considering adding in some card draw but Treasure Cruise was banned and I'm not sure what I'd want to run, nor what to take out for it. Perhaps Phyrexian Arena or Monastery Siege instead of Fearie Tauntings?
Man, I started getting excited when the article spoiling Shaman of the Forgotten Ways opened up with a paragraph talking about Birds of Paradise... And we got yet another high CMC mana dork.
Hey everyone, I've wanted to make a modern fae deck for some time but I simply can't justify the price tag on Vendilion Clique, Bitterblossom, or Cryptic Command at the moment.
The one Cryptic Command I was lucky enough to get from Modern Masters, other than that I'm trying to keep to cards that are less than ~5-6 dollars for now. Mutavault and Creeping Tar Pit I plan to get in the future, but I'm holding off for now unless they're really critical to the deck's performance. I'm testing Cloudseeder as a worse Bitterblossom, sure it takes resources to make tokens but it's the closest thing I could find. Faerie Tauntings is in as a more resilient Mistbind target.
My two cents.
In any case, I agree that OGW felt extremely underwhelming. I don't think I've been as unenthusiastic about a set since I started playing in Innistrad.
Just keep your cards, continue working towards finishing your deck and you'll save yourself a headache and potential money loss.
First, Servitude is a Sorcery whereas Rally is an Instant. The ability to combo at instant speed if you have the pieces in the graveyard is the whole point of running Rally.
Secondly, even ignoring timing Servitude has a big problem: it only reanimates creatures with cmc X. Rally looks at cmc X or less. Considering the mana costs of the combo pieces are all over the place, Immortal Servitude seems like it would be a pretty poor choice.
I definitely want to get a full set of Leaf-Crowned Elders, those guys are awesome. However, with Sachi and Great Hunt, isn't the 4-drop spot getting a bit crowded if I take out the mana dorks like the Banneret?
I was unaware of those token producers that actually let you pick the token's creature type, but Soul Foundry seems really good. Rage Forger every turn? Yes please!
I have a shaman tribal deck that I've built to be able to play Modern on a budget (you can learn more about the archetype here, if you're interested). It's fun to play but as a rush aggro deck doesn't scale well to multiplayer, which is what my new playgroup gravitates towards, so I'd like to modify it so I can keep punching people with shamans - now with more players!
The basic premise of the deck is to play a bunch of creatures with the Shaman subtype, and then play Rage Forger for many damages! Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a card that produces shaman tokens yet, so I figure my best chance is to play cards that have some value in longer games.
Based on my Modern deck, this is what I'm considering as a first draft:
3 Flamekin Harbinger
3 Birds of Paradise
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
4 Bosk Banneret
2 Fauna Shaman
3 Dragon Whisperer
3 Kazandu Tuskcaller
3 Rage Forger
3 Shaman of Forgotten Ways
2 Eternal Witness
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Leaf-Crowned Elder
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lead the Stampede
Lands
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Windswept Heath
4 Stomping Ground
5 Forest
5 Mountain
None of my friends play decks that are particularly high-powered (they have stuff like Boros weenie, Vampire tribal, Warrior tribal, Manifest...) and we usually have 3 or 4 player games. Are there any particular cards you guys think I should be running? Some advice for the mana curve? I'm more used to Limited and one-on-one Constructed, so I'd love to get some feedback from you guys!
Dragon Whisperer just looks like a cool card, even though the mana cost makes it clunky in a typical shaman deck. Ire Shaman seems worth testing in place of Fauna Shaman or Wolf-Skull Shaman in rush decks.
I'm definitely most excited for Collected Company though. Seems like a super-Lead the Stampede.
I think I'd cut the Wolf-Skull before the Visionaries, I've just never been very impressed with the former. By the way ThatStoryTeller120, I notice you took out all the Shaman of the Great Hunt. Did you feel they weren't working out, or are you just testing Collected Company in their place? (Card does seem awesome!)
What about adding in Tasigur somewhere? He's not a faerie (though he might be some kind of Evil Peter Pan), but he's a big creature on his own and his abilities make Cloudseeder a bit better. And he can generate some card advantage?
Unfortunately I haven't had a whole lot of time for testing but the deck seems to hold out pretty well against aggro and midrange. My problem has just been actually switching gears to finish the game before I run out of disruption (I don't have the Mistbinds yet, those should help out a lot). I'm considering adding in some card draw but Treasure Cruise was banned and I'm not sure what I'd want to run, nor what to take out for it. Perhaps Phyrexian Arena or Monastery Siege instead of Fearie Tauntings?
While I don't think Shaman Ramp would be particularly good (seems too slow), I could see it being a pretty fun casual deck. Plus, there's big creatures and mana sinks that just happen to be shamans too! Like Chameleon Colossus, Deathforge Shaman, Woodfall Primus, Gigantomancer, Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief.
By the way Pizzap, are you still brewing your TasiCycle list?
So, for now I'm thinking of running this list:
4 Mistmind Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Scion of Oona
3 Cloudseeder
Spells(19)
2 Murderous Cut
2 Dismember
4 Mana Leak
1 Cryptic Command
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Duress
3 Dissolve
3 Victim of Night
1 Faerie Tauntings
Lands(25)
4 Secluded Glen
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Drowned Catacomb
8 Island
6 Swamp
The one Cryptic Command I was lucky enough to get from Modern Masters, other than that I'm trying to keep to cards that are less than ~5-6 dollars for now. Mutavault and Creeping Tar Pit I plan to get in the future, but I'm holding off for now unless they're really critical to the deck's performance. I'm testing Cloudseeder as a worse Bitterblossom, sure it takes resources to make tokens but it's the closest thing I could find. Faerie Tauntings is in as a more resilient Mistbind target.
Thoughts? Criticisms?