MTG Salvation

Try to talk things out, have people see it from your angle, and you should try to see it from theirs. In the end, everybody has different expectations from the game, and it's about learning to understand the more open minded and respecting their motivations. I'm not saying stop doing your combos, get them to understand that combos are not a bad thing when at a sane power level relative to their decks.

Seriously. How is Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker into Zealous Conscripts any more "lethal" than Avenger of Zendikar's horde getting pumped to 20/20 somehow and swinging at everybody? The first is a filthy combo, the second is theoretically finite but kills people just as effectively.

I seem to recall reading something somewhere, may have been a thread here, about some meta that forbade land destruction of any kind, and the meta quickly degenerated into Boseiju-fuelled combos. Nothing could pop the Boseijus. Another poster (this one's on here for sure) mentioned how silly restrictive his playgroup was getting, with people being sour about any form of removal. This is what "compromising" leads to.

Play what you want. The only thing that should be moderated within the confines of a group is relative power level, have everybody be close to the same page so it's not just the same dude winning over and over. Make them understand this.

Initial sideboard draft now included in the thread. A number of potential problems the list can run into can be answered, given some extra leg room that won't result in dead cards when said problems aren't present.



Hexproof isn't exactly the greatest thing ever, but sometimes there are tons of targeted spells flying around. Having a possibility to tutor up an answer isn't a bad idea, but not something you want in your 99 (unless you know your meta is hellbent on those effects, then by all means go for it).

The deck can deal with destruction/tuck just fine, but stealing the commander is quite painful. Once again, you can tutor up an answer, and there's also some goodstuff in the form of a land.

If you know you'll be staring down -X/-X, side out some of the less inspiring token engines for options that make 3/3s. Once again, this includes a tutorable option too.

Pillow forts fold quite nicely if you off their enchantments as you go in for your alpha strike. You may just be able to pay their taxation anyway.

Iona shouldn't be too much of a bother, as you'll most likely get a token engine online before she comes out to play, but it won't hurt to play it safe in case something wrenches your board once Iona's online. Repeatable, too. Obviously can also be used on other troublemakers.

This Patron list is primarily a nice deck that doesn't wrench others too hard, but stax are absolutely brutal - your opponents get drowned in tar whilst you still go about your day just about uninterrupted. If others keep wrenching you when you try to go about your game plan, why not wrench them back?

Of course, this is just a first version of the sideboard, and I see no reason for it to not evolve as well. Did I miss any cool nuggets? Let me know!

Isn't one of the deck's strengths how it's innately good at noping goyfs? Why would you run your own goyfs then? Also everybody should stop hating on the tusker, he's a really good chunk of fat, and if he eats a bolt or something that's one less bolt for the foe to work with for your dome/your other creatures.

Psst. I think you may have forgotten to indicate your commander.

Bow's a decent sideboard card, but not really main worthy (from my limited experience).

So, just making sure, you're considering Howl for the list running Beacon, right? If so, I have no idea what to suggest

Why not return to Beacon of Creation then, unless the 2/2'ness of the wolves from Howl of the Night Pack somehow matters? That's less mana intensive and nets you the same number of bodies.

I wouldn't add the Myriad Landscape, to be fair. In the end, it's a land that comes with a Wayfarer's Bauble glued on it, except it costs 3 to pop (the turn you play the land it comes in tapped, so it's like "casting" the bauble, and then when you crack it for 2 and a tap you get two lands, one of which replaces the landscape you just sacrificed). It's too slow for my sluggish Patron of the Orochi, it'll be even slower for you.

Keep us posted how the dork testing goes. They're far more fragile than the land-based ramp you just cut, but they give you a great edge in speed (and that seems to be what you're going after). Maybe consider the "enchantment dorks", i.e. Utopia Sprawl/Wild Growth, as they are mana neutral T2+ and die to less things? It's a bit of a nonbo with your commander, true, but you get a bit more resilience without loss of ramp speed.

Not unequipping them.

Yeah, I'm not buying that stompy pod thing. If someone manages to make a more answer-filled shell - sure.

I'd say try to stay away from auras on the whole, on the off-chance they manage to get rid of Thrun somehow. Rancor is a notable exception, keep that.

I assume the Darksteel Plate is for the "can't be regenerated" wraths. If those are prevalent in your meta, keep it. Otherwise, cut it.

Some pretty cool, cheap equipment that could be useful would be Grafted Wargear, Grafted Exoskeleton and Tenza, Godo's Maul.

I'd cut the Llanowar Elves for Wild Growth. Dies to less things.

Yeah, that duo is amazing in any deck where activated abilities do a lot of heavy lifting. I'd also support slotting them in.

There's a bunch of (rather crappy) Nekusars running around my paper meta. He really speeds up the game. I assume that a proper build could be quite a thrill to play both with and against.

Quick list fix



Decided to go through the tutor options again in case I forgot to mention anything. Oh boy, it turns out I completely forgot about Citanul Flute. It may lack the outright wallhax of Planar Portal and Ring of Three Wishes, but there's no denying it's repeatable tutoring for engines/finishers. As such, it obviously deserves a home here.

The cut was pretty hard. In the end, I card 1v1'd with the recent Book of Rass addition. Similarly to how Primal Command ousted Abundance, the flute outdoes the book for the deck's game plan. Don't get me wrong, the book's a hell of a card and it may be coming back at some point. For now I think it gets to hold the title of the card that was in the deck for the shortest amount of time, which is a bit of a pity - I was quite psyched about it. However, the glaring flute oversight needed fixing and this was the weakest link.

Glad to see a fellow Patron player! Patron and Omnath are hard to compare, really - Omnath can kill someone just fine before Patron even comes down.

Your list is considerably heavier on all sorts of creatures, whilst mine is filled to the brim with tutors and draw engines to get a handful of token makers online. I would really, really recommend Planar Portal to you. You have the mana to support it, and it allows you unparalleled tutoring ability.

I really love the fact you're running Wren's Run Packmaster. It's by far the best token engine, and you make it work with Skyshroud Poacher just fine. The Poacher would be a true all star in an Elfball Patron build. I know I used to run Silklash Spider at some point, he is a very strong hate card.

The Broodmaster is pretty strong, looks like a Gelatinous Genesis on legs. If that's up your alley, run Polukranos, World Eater for some "green wrath" good time.