MTG Salvation

Quote from ardillacody »

G3 I entered a leyline with my opening hand. I got a RiP in my hand that I could land on turn 2, but I didn't (my bad) as I thought that in his T3, without the creature, wouldn't be able to combo, but he did. Fortunately, I resolved well the Gifts Ungiven sending the draw cards to graveyard along with the Grapeshot.

How could he have cast Gifts if you had leyline of sanctity out?

My opinion: I don't like Linvala in any of the 75. I feel like she's a remnant of the pod toolbox days.

No other deck that runs white plays her and I don't know why we should. I can definitely appreciate her applications but that goes for every other card in mtg. Why was she played in pod before? Maybe she shored up a weakness of pod or served as a reliable toolbox.

Without pod + the inclusion of company, I feel her and reveillark/thune should step back.

Yeah, remember that the main reason the combo works so well in Twin is due to the control shell. Remand/Serum Visions/Cryptic Command all get you closer and the minimum amount of fetching also aids Serum Visions.

It is the closest thing to a draw-go deck we have in Tier 1 and rarely will a pro Twin player hastily go for the combo unless they're about to die the next turn. They can easily hold up and play plan B beats and wait to craft windows of opportunity.

Knightfall is more blunt in its overall approach as dumb beats and that is quite unavoidable when you are playing cards like noble hierarch and knight of reliquary as core.

Rather than compare the merits of these cards individually, we should take a holistic view and realise that the only real similarity between both decks atm is a two card combo that has a creature and an enchantment...

Or play dromoka's command the palm and swing at them again next turn.

I've been bouncing between the 4c zoo version and the exalted bant version and I'm leaning towards the latter.

This is where my decklist is at:



Notes:

Sideboard is still WIP.

Loving the Exalted beat down plan with geist/voice/rhox war monk

Affinity MU - Played 4 matches and won them all (2-0, 2-1, 2-0, 2-0). 4 x Qasali Pridemage is amazing and post board is just devastating.

Burn MU - Played 3 matches (1-2, 2-1, 2-0). Felt very reliant on getting my rhox war monks turn 2 as I was taking so much damage from my manabase. Searing blood wrecks face against our dorks T_T.

Jund - Played 3 matches (2-0, 0-2, 2-1). I'd say it's quite even but slightly in their favour. If they drop a bob and start drawing into answers, it is very hard to come back. Geist is an allstar (loxodon + voice too).

Grixis Twin - Played 2 matches (0-2, 1-2). Even though I lost both games, I feel as though they were just unlucky (I had to mull twice and never got a dork opener in any of the games). They only combo'd off twice and Qasali Pridemage is a great answer to twin. The game I won, I actually drew into 3 geists and just 4/4 bashed into his tasigur 3 times haha.

Grixis Control - Played 2 matches (2-1, 1-2). Similar to twin but I would say easier due to voice + loxodon eating up kolaghan's command.

Overall, I maybe combo'd 20% of the time and I would like to test against Tron but the deck is being lent out atm T_T.

Would I take this over Abzan Company? Not sure, Abzan company feels more consistent in comboing while having threat but can durdle around so much. Knightfall's biggest durdle would be drawing lots of exalted but even that's not durdling cause you can smash face with a 5/5 (eg. 1 qasali, 2 nobles) into their 4/5 goyf.

Quote from Pokken »

This deck concept seems to have a lot more game vs. Tron than most mid-aggro critter decks.

Especially if you run Mangara of Corondor

Edit: It has begun http://www.mtggoldfish.com/price/Conflux/Knight of the Reliquary#paper

I have been looking for Mangara of Corondor's home for a long time (Thousand-Year Elixir anyone??) and this may be it, providing our desired interaction without diluting company.

T1: Dork
T2: Mangara
T3: Coralhelm + play fetch = tap + untap + tap = exile 2 permanents. (thanks to Xanian for pointing out we can't get 3 exile unless we can play fetch in response to tap)

I'm playing the deck as a primary win condition of exalted beats, mixed with the value package of company + ewit and voice, and incidental combo.

Notes:

I realise Kira is a non-bo with Coralhelm but it's actually fine since you just have to waste one fetch activation (so you miss out on a tap creature trigger with Knight or exile permanent with Mangara essentially). Outside of that, it provides you much needed protection.

Unsure of the exalted gameplan, feels bad trying to improve voice and geist so forcefully. However, I feel with the rise of affinity added with the fact that it will probably be our worst game 1 matchup, qasali pridemages may be worthy.

I've been having a blast playing Abzan company exclusively for the last couple of months and I'm tempted to jump ship to this.

Just top 8'd a 50 man modern event with this Elves list:



Round 1 vs Mardu Burn (0-0):

G1: Pendlehaven on a dork stopped his goblin guide attacks and spellskite sealed the deal. Win on turn 4 with 2x copperhorn + archdruid + mirror entity.

G2: Boarded in skite, kor firewalker, burrenton x 2. Kept a turn 3/4 winning hand but he angered and I wasn't able to recover in time.

G3: End of my turn 3, he goes to lightning helix my archdruid and I actually chord in burrenton instead of saving for a potential anger and EOT chord. Bad play by me but I still win since he had no anger.

Round 2 vs Jund (1-0):

G1: Slow game. He removes important threats till I land skite followed by a chorded elvish champion. He is forced to race me with a goyf and a bob but I'm faster. (he actually forgot a bob trigger as well).

G2: Boarded in skite, burrenton x 2, scavenging ooze. Same as G1 and I was ahead with a Mirror entity on board. He only has a scooze and I miscalculate his mana and attack into it losing my entity and the game.

G3: Chord in burrenton to his anger stopping a 5 sweep and I swing next turn for the win.

Round 3 vs Storm (2-0)

G1: I'm playing a friend and we both know each other's decks. He has just come off beating another Elves deck (using the devoted druid combo) and is confident he has the faster clock. I turn 4 him with 2 x copperhorn scouts with mirror entity. He was one turn away from going off himself so close!

G2: Boarded in Eidolon of Rhetoric and Kor Firewalker. I build up an early aggressive board with heritage druid + nettle sentinel and he feels threatened. He starts to lightning bolt and grapeshot storm ping my elves and we kind of go into top deck mode. He is waiting for past in flames and I have chord in my hand ready for Eidolon of Rhetoric. He loses.

Round 4 vs Living End (3-0)

G1: I'm terrified and I have no sideboard tech outside of Eidolon. G1 my first turn 3 kill with copperhorn shenanigans and the three of us (including an onlooking judge) are duly impressed. It was T1: Razorverge + Dork, T2: Land + Heritage + Copperhorn + Archdruid, T3: Land + Mirror Entity.

G2: Board in Eidolon of Rhetoric. He turn 3 Living End's me when I'm about to alpha strike next turn T_T.

G3: Slower game. I have skite + eidolon on board and he is waiting for shriekmaw before he cascades but he never makes it and I win a very hard-to-win match up.

Round 5+6 vs ???? (4-0)

Intentional Draw to Top 8, Take a break and get something to eat.

Top 8

Quarterfinal vs Living End (same dude again.....)

G1: I am ranked 3rd overall so I am on the play. I mull to 6 he mulls to 5. I win turn 4 luckily as he didn't cycle into a cascade.

G2+G3: I never see Eidolon/Chord and he cascades turn 3 all times, once with a simian spirit guide just for the extra cycle. Unrecoverable on my end.

Quick thoughts:

Overall, very happy with how focused my game 1 plan is and I am never upset with drawing multiple copperhorn scouts (they are probably the mvp alongside mirror entity and champion for jund).

Turn 3/4 wins are consistent and the redundancy is invaluable during attrition match ups. I will not be going the GB path with Shaman of the Packs / Dwynen Elite for the foreseeable future as I don't see any card that is replaceable at the moment.

edit: oh yeah Eidolon did so much work for me >_> someone suggested Ethersworn for the earlier chord.

edit #2: for the living end match up, Mirror Entity can also be activated for 0 in response to living end if no lords are in play.

Elves is probably the one of the most quintessential tempo decks in modern.

Ramping and Low curve and heritage shenanigans all leading to early board presence and efficient resource expenditure.

Sounds like tempo to me.

edit: massive sigh

After some tinkering/solitaire testing on MTGO, here's my new list.... didn't know Cloudstone Curio could be THIS good It also makes Nykthos irrelevant, no wonder you didn't like it anymore.