Liliana can probably help with matches against humans, she deserves to be mainboard in my opinion. The Elite can be fun late game, Noosegraf can be a good finisher. Assembled Alphas is also really good for us, Bedlam might be where it's at though we cast alot of spells and it should be cheap to cast. Collective Defiance will replace firecraft, i might try it now even while we have it. Galvanic may be a maybe but i like dual shot better. Hanweir Garrison is really good and everyone should run 4, go buy a set before it spikes i have a good feeling it'll be like Rabblemaster and become $20 in standard. Incendiary Flow might replace Fiery Temper for me sorcery sucks but its exile which is good against aristocrats and zombie decks. Mirrorwing might be a good beater thats hard to remove? Stromkirk Occultist can be our Ire Shaman after rotation, but we also have Deranged Whelp if we ever miss the 2/1 menace haha. I think we should focus on being midrange and not restrict ourselves to a tribe, we're not like humans where tribal synergy is really good. Im brewing lists and i'll make a post when i finish em
For the Vampire route aside from the above stuff Vampire Cutthroat is the only thing i see that's runnable. Does anyone else think Stensia Innkeeper is odd? It's such a weird effect for vampires. All the other Vamps seem meh to me honestly.
Is it just me? Or spoilers have been bad for vampire tribal. There are only a few relevant cards we can run to go full Vamp tribal, i wont go and complain about humans anymore thats just beating the dead horse.
Shambling Goblin seems like a tight fit for sideboards, and i already run 2 Dual Shot which seems to be better It's amazing against UR Eldrazi went 2-1 yesterday losing to GR Ramp because of mana flood. Sin Prodder was a little wonky too, kept on revealing lands (which i didn't really need so i didn't mind dumping them) instead of cards to go to hand or damage my opponent. Asylum Visitor has been good, 3-3 split with Ire Shaman has been going well, Olivia at 3 is also very powerful giving haste, i might try 2 Drana in the main again.
The thing with humans is they run out of steam eventually, they don't want to get to that point of the game and they aim to finish you before that. If you can delay the game to the point they're in topdeck mode you're gonna have the win. Tbreak Regent and GDD tend to wall them coupled with removal. Dont be stingy with casting removal on them, ive casted Firecraft on a measly Thalias Lieutenant because i knew it could get out of hand real quick.
Asylum Visitor i also want to try but the lack of evasion is making me not like it as much.
About Heir i dont flip her the turn after i cast her if i dont feel the need to flip her, yes most of the times i ditch a madness card, sometimes a land or a Firecraft if i have a GDD in hand. You don't have to flip her asap my favorite play with her is attacking getting blocked by a flashed rattlechains so i flip her and cast grotesque mutation to save her while gaining me life. Its a really good card.
When i get my second Olivia i'll try out a 2-2 split with her and Drana. The main problem with Drana is she's double black in a deck that wants double red. I cant always guarantee getting a smoldering or foreboding in my opening hand so sometimes i cant cast her. To be fair though she is good, but not in my deck which is still burn centric.
If you've noticed i didn't play against any control decks during that tourney and GDD was still an all star, recasting spells is just too good It finishes games against any type of deck.
Jai whats your list gonna look like when Thalia arrives? I might go 3 Fiery Impulse mainboard if the meta is human infested.
Okidoke so i went 3-0 with 6-2 in match records, honestly could have been 6-1 but i kept a risky 2 swamp hand with an Ire Shaman hand haha my fault but still won
Round 1 VS UR Madness(2-1)
Won game 1 easily since it seemed kinda budget-y and he was a modern player primarily. Sided in Fiery Impulse to take care of creatures for game 2 and it went well, killed a Jace flipwalker but didn't get to kill his second copy before it flipped and it was pretty hard from there. Game 3 was straightforward managed to cast Drana but i still don't like her :/ also casted my single Olivia and hasted a Tbreak Regent :3 it was awesome, i'm gonna run 2-3 Olivia taking out Drana soon.
Round 2 VS 4 Color Rite (4-2)
Game 1 i had him at 7 before i realized that he could already flip Westvale Abbey, tried to hold on but man it was hard. Game 2 i sided in more removal and Malevolent Whispers to steal his Ormendahl but i didn't
One interesting moment in the match was when he blinked all my creatures using Displacer (Including a flipped Heir, Sin Prodder, Tbreak Regent and GDD so he gave me a another shot at casting a Firecraft). Next turn i stole his flipped Duskwatch Recruiter swung then cast an Ire Shaman for the reduced cost and gave him his Duskwatch back now flipped hehe :3 he then just passed turn blinking my Heir with 3 mana left. I casted another Malevolent Whispers and stole his Displacer but he also blinked my Tbreak Regent so i didn't have lethal. He chump blocked the Displacer and he just passed turn again. Sin revealed a Heir off the top and he made me dump it bringing him to 7 and i had 2 Exquisites and a GDD in hand so even without the second Firecraft i still would have won since he also did not have lethal on his turn. He was pretty salty though saying i got lucky but eh, it was a pretty good match for me, he had a shot at winning.
Round 3 VS Bant CoCo (2-0)
This was against a good friend of mine and i was always afraid of CoCo decks because of Reflector Mage ugh a Eldritch Moon PR pass was going to the winner of our match and we were both in need of it, game 1 was straightforward with creatures and burn and i sided in the same stuff i did in Round 2. Game 2 i wasn't proud of winning honestly, he got stuck at 2 and it was downhill from there. I promised to give him a pack from EMN to make up for the bad game. We played a few more matches and i say CoCo is a winnable matchup.
Now about the deck, gonna remove Drana since she's meh for me, i don't like her. Gonna cut a swamp and add a mountain/smoldering marsh. Now everyone has seen the new Thalia im assuming, anyone have ideas? Malevolent Whispers also, put them in your sideboards its amazingggg
@Jai oh man its sad to see GDD leaving your list haha, your meta as you said is full of human decks so removing GDD makes sense, my meta here is full of control and midrange so GDD is a good fit for mine. For the above three cards though i don't think they have a place in the deck really.
Congrats to everyones FNM finishes ill be back at FNM this week.
Yeaahhhh go Jai! We're now running almost identical lists told ya GDD plus Firecraft and Ire Shaman would be good
@Kpal we're not running Ire Shaman just for the exile effect, we're running her for the menace we also don't cast alot of spells in a turn for Abbott, usually decks that run him have a multitude of cheap spells like Titan's Strength to maximize prowess triggers.
I've always thought that shotgun shuffling didn't randomize that well, there are videos that prove this too. Personally i pile shuffle and riffle shuffle haha.
About Sin Prodder yeah he did throw out lands but i still get to 7 lands easy in my games running 23 lands in the deck. I don't believe i ever got stuck at 3 lands, always 4.
Well i used to run RB Vamps with around 20 vampires and i still didn't use it much hahaha
Well think about it this way, Ire Shaman (with the megamorph ability) is 4 mana split between two turns like you said. But after that you have a 3/2 menace and a card off the top (Which in my case has almost always been the definitive card to finish games.) Keep us updated in your testing
I dunno really, often i see people dying to Read the Bones especially against aggro decks. But we do run lifegain so maybe it's not much of a problem for us?
That new list looks so niceeee hope you do well at FNM this week
Jai speaking from experience don't expect too much from Bloodsworn, i used to run it and it never really worked for me, it gives haste maybe 1 or 2 times in a game for me. With that in mind though i like the list but i believe all of us should run a mix of Ire Shaman and Sin Prodder since they help the deck so much.
Read the Bones over Tormenting Voice though? and 25 lands is too much i think since only 2 GDD, i'm at 23 lands with 3 GDD and it's never been hard to cast. Maybe cut two lands and go 4 Firecraft and 3 GDD? They are best friends after all
Sorry to hear about another FNM loss didn't play last friday and i'm not gonna be able to play this friday so not much from me for now. Glad that you like Mutation though i knew it was going to be good haha.
About your second list it's more of an Aggro build than Midrange honestly. I used to run a list almost the same as yours and it has problems finishing the game, which was solved for me by Tbreak Regent and GDD. It's safe to drop to about 20 lands too, it's worked for me before haha.
Firecraft off the top to win is one of the greatest feelings ever haha.
Liliana can probably help with matches against humans, she deserves to be mainboard in my opinion. The Elite can be fun late game, Noosegraf can be a good finisher. Assembled Alphas is also really good for us, Bedlam might be where it's at though we cast alot of spells and it should be cheap to cast. Collective Defiance will replace firecraft, i might try it now even while we have it. Galvanic may be a maybe but i like dual shot better. Hanweir Garrison is really good and everyone should run 4, go buy a set before it spikes i have a good feeling it'll be like Rabblemaster and become $20 in standard. Incendiary Flow might replace Fiery Temper for me sorcery sucks but its exile which is good against aristocrats and zombie decks. Mirrorwing might be a good beater thats hard to remove? Stromkirk Occultist can be our Ire Shaman after rotation, but we also have Deranged Whelp if we ever miss the 2/1 menace haha. I think we should focus on being midrange and not restrict ourselves to a tribe, we're not like humans where tribal synergy is really good. Im brewing lists and i'll make a post when i finish em
For the Vampire route aside from the above stuff Vampire Cutthroat is the only thing i see that's runnable. Does anyone else think Stensia Innkeeper is odd? It's such a weird effect for vampires. All the other Vamps seem meh to me honestly.
My sideboard looks like this right now
2 Fiery Impulse
2 Dual Shot
2 Flaying Tendrils
1 Virulent Plague
1 Transgress the Mind
1 Ultimate Price
2 Self-Inflicted Wound
2 Malevolent Whispers
Getting 2 more Transgress and hopefully 1 more Virulent Plague tomorrow taking out Ult Price and Wound.
Crater Elemental i picked up a set for the sideboard, i think its gonna be good thanks for pointing that out Jai
Grotesque Mutation you have to play it mainboard, it saves you and gains you life, against humans any lifegain is good.
Asylum Visitor i also want to try but the lack of evasion is making me not like it as much.
About Heir i dont flip her the turn after i cast her if i dont feel the need to flip her, yes most of the times i ditch a madness card, sometimes a land or a Firecraft if i have a GDD in hand. You don't have to flip her asap
When i get my second Olivia i'll try out a 2-2 split with her and Drana. The main problem with Drana is she's double black in a deck that wants double red. I cant always guarantee getting a smoldering or foreboding in my opening hand so sometimes i cant cast her. To be fair though she is good, but not in my deck which is still burn centric.
If you've noticed i didn't play against any control decks during that tourney and GDD was still an all star, recasting spells is just too good
Jai whats your list gonna look like when Thalia arrives? I might go 3 Fiery Impulse mainboard if the meta is human infested.
With that out of the way i went 3-0 at a Thursday Stnadrad event with this brand new list which i like alot :3
4 Ire Shaman
4 Heir of Falkenrath
3 Sin Prodder
1 Olivia, Mobilized for War
2 Drana, Liberator of Malakir
4 Thunderbreak Regent
3 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
Instants
2 Draconic Roar
2 Grotesque Mutation
4 Fiery Temper
2 Tormenting Voice
2 Alms of the Vein
4 Exquisite Firecraft
Lands
4 Foreboding Ruins
3 Smoldering Marsh
9 Mountain
7 Swamp
2 Lightning Axe
4 Fiery Impulse
1 Tormenting Voice
1 Magmatic Chasm
2 Self-Inflicted Wound
2 Ultimate Price
1 Virulent Plague
2 Malevolent Whispers
Okidoke so i went 3-0 with 6-2 in match records, honestly could have been 6-1 but i kept a risky 2 swamp hand with an Ire Shaman hand
Round 1 VS UR Madness(2-1)
Won game 1 easily since it seemed kinda budget-y and he was a modern player primarily. Sided in Fiery Impulse to take care of creatures for game 2 and it went well, killed a Jace flipwalker but didn't get to kill his second copy before it flipped and it was pretty hard from there. Game 3 was straightforward managed to cast Drana but i still don't like her :/ also casted my single Olivia and hasted a Tbreak Regent :3 it was awesome, i'm gonna run 2-3 Olivia taking out Drana soon.
Round 2 VS 4 Color Rite (4-2)
Game 1 i had him at 7 before i realized that he could already flip Westvale Abbey, tried to hold on but man it was hard. Game 2 i sided in more removal and Malevolent Whispers to steal his Ormendahl but i didn't
One interesting moment in the match was when he blinked all my creatures using Displacer (Including a flipped Heir, Sin Prodder, Tbreak Regent and GDD so he gave me a another shot at casting a Firecraft). Next turn i stole his flipped Duskwatch Recruiter swung then cast an Ire Shaman for the reduced cost and gave him his Duskwatch back now flipped hehe :3 he then just passed turn blinking my Heir with 3 mana left. I casted another Malevolent Whispers and stole his Displacer but he also blinked my Tbreak Regent so i didn't have lethal. He chump blocked the Displacer and he just passed turn again. Sin revealed a Heir off the top and he made me dump it bringing him to 7 and i had 2 Exquisites and a GDD in hand so even without the second Firecraft i still would have won since he also did not have lethal on his turn. He was pretty salty though saying i got lucky but eh, it was a pretty good match for me, he had a shot at winning.
Round 3 VS Bant CoCo (2-0)
This was against a good friend of mine and i was always afraid of CoCo decks because of Reflector Mage ugh
Now about the deck, gonna remove Drana since she's meh for me, i don't like her. Gonna cut a swamp and add a mountain/smoldering marsh. Now everyone has seen the new Thalia im assuming, anyone have ideas? Malevolent Whispers also, put them in your sideboards its amazingggg
Any questions comment will be highly appreciated
Congrats to everyones FNM finishes
@Kpal we're not running Ire Shaman just for the exile effect, we're running her for the menace
About Sin Prodder yeah he did throw out lands but i still get to 7 lands easy in my games running 23 lands in the deck. I don't believe i ever got stuck at 3 lands, always 4.
Well i used to run RB Vamps with around 20 vampires and i still didn't use it much
Well think about it this way, Ire Shaman (with the megamorph ability) is 4 mana split between two turns like you said. But after that you have a 3/2 menace and a card off the top
I dunno really, often i see people dying to Read the Bones especially against aggro decks. But we do run lifegain so maybe it's not much of a problem for us?
That new list looks so niceeee hope you do well at FNM this week
Read the Bones over Tormenting Voice though? and 25 lands is too much i think since only 2 GDD, i'm at 23 lands with 3 GDD and it's never been hard to cast. Maybe cut two lands and go 4 Firecraft and 3 GDD? They are best friends after all
Jeskai Sage or Palace Familiar
Whisk Away or Anchor to the Aether
About your second list it's more of an Aggro build than Midrange honestly. I used to run a list almost the same as yours and it has problems finishing the game, which was solved for me by Tbreak Regent and GDD. It's safe to drop to about 20 lands too, it's worked for me before haha.
Firecraft off the top to win is one of the greatest feelings ever haha.