I'm not sure I'm on board with 2-3 copies of Walking Ballista in the deck. Ballista provides no synergy with Heritage Druid, Archdruid, Shaman of the Pack, or Dwynen's Elite, and it can't be hit off Collected Company or Chorded for. But, if you're going to go that route, I might run 1 Ballista and 1 Duskwatch Recruiter over multiple Ballista. If you are able to assemble infinite mana then Recruiter will find you a Walking Ballista. Recruiter can also be hit off of Collected Company and will provide value as a mana sink without needing an Archdruid or the combo on board. But if we're going to start attacking from this angle, we should probably just play Counters Company.
Thanks for the feedback. I immediately removed Scout from consideration after gold fishing a few hands. She's really not any good unless you get her on turn one, much like Burgeoning. I definitely prefer cards like Exploration, Azusa, Wayward Swordtooth so at least I can play lands from my graveyard or the top of my deck if there is a Crucible or Oracle in play.
Last night I played a 2 hour game at our LGS for our Tuesday night league. I was up against Angus McKenzie, Meren, and Balan. Aside from some annoyances from Meren and Balan, Angus was my nemesis. His deck is a planeswalker heavy build and he was able to keep the board clear and really insulate himself with Angus, Constant Mist, and Teferi's Protection, but luckily I had a Nissa, Vital Force emblem early on to dig. Eventually Angus exiled my substantial graveyard with an Angel of Finality where I lost my Command Beacon and Titania up to costing 13 mana. There was no way I was going to be able to get an army through his defenses and was threatening a Narset and a Venser ultimate. I had to force him into submission with Dust Bowl, Thespian's Stage copying Dust Bowl, Deserted Temple and a Crucible of Worlds. I was able to pick off 3 lands a turn for several turns and take him off white mana stranding a bunch of cards in his hand. This give me an opportunity to cast Titania using every land but Gaea's Cradle. I got back a simple Snow-Covered Forest since my deck was depleted of basics and only about 20 cards in total. I used the Forest to cast Concordant Crossroads, cast Zuran Orb, made 12 elementals and tapped the Cradle to cast Triumph of the Hordes and took out everyone in combat.
I love how this deck can explode early on and win quickly or grind through a two hour slog and put opponents in a stranglehold by cutting them off colors. This deck has a pretty good win percentage, but this one felt particularly good grinding out the win in a marathon game.
Anyone have any experience with Sakura-Tribe Scout or Summoner's Pact? I really like the idea of putting a land like Cradle, Maze of Ith, Glacial Chasm into play at instant speed as well as using it as just another Exploration effect. Also, Summoner's Pact seems better than Wordly Tutor in this deck. I like the idea of getting the card into your hand rather than the top of your deck to mask the incoming Craterhoof.
I'm curious of your feedback on the cards. My list is in the spoiler link in my signature if you want some context.
What do we cut to fit another 3 drop in? Also, it's putting it on top of your library and not in to your hand so it's a very slow tutor. I feel like if you are in need of finding an Ezuri quickly you'd be better off with Summoner's Pact. Then at least you can cast and activate him immediately and surprise your opponent rather than show them what's coming.
As a disclaimer, I don't think Summoner's Pact is worth a slot either, but I'd lean towards that before Harbinger.
Anyone still find good use of Kopala 1- or 2-of maindeck?
If you're tuning for your local meta then it's up to you to determine if Kopala makes sense. If you're going to a big event, then take a look at the latest SCG events or mtgtop8. Jeskai is starting to pop up in the events I see online so it may make sense to keep one or two somewhere in the 75, but that might not be representative of what you face at your shop.
It's an esper control package that uses Merieke to lock down the most potent threats while generating value from our own creatures until we can take infinte turns by flickering Archaeomancer with Eldrazi Displacer, getting back Time Warp, or generate infinite mana with Basalt Monolith and Rings to draw your deck, cast Gonti and flicker it infinitely, exiling your opponents decks. The combos themselves aren't that all original, but I've enjoyed how this deck plays out in the process of getting there.
My concern is diversifying my win conditions. If for whatever reason one of my combo pieces are removed, I'm not sure how I finish the game. For example, last night my Gonti was exiled. I put myself in a position to draw the my deck, but once my deck is in my hands taking infinite turns doesn't help me out. Luckly an opponent had played an Oona, Queen of the Fae which I was able to steal and use to exile everyone's deck.
Are there some synergistic win conditions that I may be missing? I don't want to just jam something in that doesn't really do anything except when you have the combo assembled. I've got some cards I'm considering listed in the maybe board that may benefit the deck. Venser is probably the only real win con in that list though.
Revoker is good in so many matchups.
I never leave home without one. If you're letting it die you didn't play it right imo.
Make or break situations with revoker:
Tron plays: Oblivion Stone or Ugin. chord revoker win next turn.
Ad Nauseam plays: Ad Nauseam. Chord revoker name Lightning Storm win next turn.
BGx plays LtlH: Chord revoker kill lili next turn.
Tron plays Walking Ballista: ....
Affinity plays Ravager, Plating, Overseer:...
Abzan coco or Elves play devoted druid:...
These are some of the important plays.
Sounds good enough to me.
I don't know if I'm sold on Revoker either. I don't think it's a bad sideboard choice, but I think you make it sound a lot better than it actually is when you add "win next turn" after every time it hits the battlefield.
The issue is if you're chording for revoker, you aren't chording for Ezuri or Archduid or something that actually wins you the game. Revoker usually stops you from losing, but it doesn't win you the game.
Well, i'm talking GB Elves with SotP, so it's easy to win without chord.
With Tron and Ad nauseum it always comes down to this. They are about as fast as GB Elves and stopping them the turn before you win is a very common scenario.
Same against GW Elves and Abzan coco.
Affinity really needs all the hate, they are just faster. Sometimes you're not even able to chord in time so you need to hardcast some hate.
Anyway, this is the way i use Revoker: Having the option to secure my win.
Oh I definitely see the value in Revoker, I just don’t put that much stock in it. You can name karn, ugin, or o stone, but whatever you don’t name still deals with Revoker or your entire board. Against ad nauseam, they just slaughter pact your Revoker once their deck is in their hand, or pact of negation the chord/Revoker in the first place.
Revoker is good in so many matchups.
I never leave home without one. If you're letting it die you didn't play it right imo.
Make or break situations with revoker:
Tron plays: Oblivion Stone or Ugin. chord revoker win next turn.
Ad Nauseam plays: Ad Nauseam. Chord revoker name Lightning Storm win next turn.
BGx plays LtlH: Chord revoker kill lili next turn.
Tron plays Walking Ballista: ....
Affinity plays Ravager, Plating, Overseer:...
Abzan coco or Elves play devoted druid:...
These are some of the important plays.
Sounds good enough to me.
I don't know if I'm sold on Revoker either. I don't think it's a bad sideboard choice, but I think you make it sound a lot better than it actually is when you add "win next turn" after every time it hits the battlefield.
The issue is if you're chording for revoker, you aren't chording for Ezuri or Archduid or something that actually wins you the game. Revoker usually stops you from losing, but it doesn't win you the game.
I totally get the budget aspect. Caverns are ridiculously expensive right now. But a couple Harbors, even the full set of Harbors, isn't going to be enough to cast your green spells out of the board, and Cavern won't help with that either. You're going to need a fetch mana base and Botanical Sanctums to do that, so take that into consideration. Also, I know Choke is the boogeyman, but a filter on green sideboard enchantments on mtgtop8 shows that only 2.9% of all decks run 1-2 choke in the board over the past 2 months. Unless you know people are packing choke in your meta, I wouldn't be too worried about it.
I'm looking to get in a fair amount (50% or so) of nonbasic land. I have a bunch of the tap lands, but I'd like to avoid them if possible, and I don't have a great deal of the Dominaria lands yet (though 4 Hinterland Harbor are incoming, before I opened a fat pack and got an extra two I don't need anymore :P). I might trade for a Minamo and Oboro before I start playing the deck. Then all I'll have to do is hope I get an island in the opening hand and mana should be good.
What are you looking to accomplish with nonbasics? I mean 50% isn't out of the ordinary if you're 10 island, 4 Mutavault, 2 Cavern, Oboro, Minamo, 2 Wanderwine Hub, but I wouldn't run Hinterland Harbor just for the sake of running nonbasics. Your last sentence sums up exactly why you shouldn't run those. You're going to have opening hands without islands and it's going to bite you. You shouldn't have to hope you have an island in your opener, you should just construct your deck so that isn't a factor.
I get what you’re saying, but undiscovered paradise isn’t modern legal. Island or Wanderwine Hub is a suitable replacement for cavern. Caver is like min/maxing the deck. You’re going to run just fine without it, but you may pick up percentage points here and there. Also, I don’t think we need to work that hard to make deprive work. Bouncing and island to replay it that turn or next turn is just fine.
I would take Deprive every time. It will always only cost UU, and the price of returning a land to your hand is worth it if the alternative is not being able to cast the spell at all because you can't afford UU1. If you don't have a wizard in play, meaning you have a lord heavy hand or board, then you can't afford to deploy a Master of the Pearl Trident, or attack with a Mutavault, and keep up UU for Wizard's Retort if you're sitting on 4 mana.
Returning the land to your hand isn't for meta purposes, it's just a much more affordable and less risky cost than hoping you have a wizard in play.
Nikachu just put up a little video about this comparison. I'd check it out.
I’m pretty sure spreading seas wouldn’t make auras fall off Dryad Arbor. It doesn’t remove its creature status, it only turns it from a forest to an island. But maybe I’m misunderstanding what is actually happening.
My other modern deck is Merfolk. Everyone at my LGS gives me crap about Merfolk and Elves being the same deck because you're turning creatures sideways, but I think they play out quite differently.
Last night I played a 2 hour game at our LGS for our Tuesday night league. I was up against Angus McKenzie, Meren, and Balan. Aside from some annoyances from Meren and Balan, Angus was my nemesis. His deck is a planeswalker heavy build and he was able to keep the board clear and really insulate himself with Angus, Constant Mist, and Teferi's Protection, but luckily I had a Nissa, Vital Force emblem early on to dig. Eventually Angus exiled my substantial graveyard with an Angel of Finality where I lost my Command Beacon and Titania up to costing 13 mana. There was no way I was going to be able to get an army through his defenses and was threatening a Narset and a Venser ultimate. I had to force him into submission with Dust Bowl, Thespian's Stage copying Dust Bowl, Deserted Temple and a Crucible of Worlds. I was able to pick off 3 lands a turn for several turns and take him off white mana stranding a bunch of cards in his hand. This give me an opportunity to cast Titania using every land but Gaea's Cradle. I got back a simple Snow-Covered Forest since my deck was depleted of basics and only about 20 cards in total. I used the Forest to cast Concordant Crossroads, cast Zuran Orb, made 12 elementals and tapped the Cradle to cast Triumph of the Hordes and took out everyone in combat.
I love how this deck can explode early on and win quickly or grind through a two hour slog and put opponents in a stranglehold by cutting them off colors. This deck has a pretty good win percentage, but this one felt particularly good grinding out the win in a marathon game.
I'm curious of your feedback on the cards. My list is in the spoiler link in my signature if you want some context.
As a disclaimer, I don't think Summoner's Pact is worth a slot either, but I'd lean towards that before Harbinger.
If you're tuning for your local meta then it's up to you to determine if Kopala makes sense. If you're going to a big event, then take a look at the latest SCG events or mtgtop8. Jeskai is starting to pop up in the events I see online so it may make sense to keep one or two somewhere in the 75, but that might not be representative of what you face at your shop.
It's an esper control package that uses Merieke to lock down the most potent threats while generating value from our own creatures until we can take infinte turns by flickering Archaeomancer with Eldrazi Displacer, getting back Time Warp, or generate infinite mana with Basalt Monolith and Rings to draw your deck, cast Gonti and flicker it infinitely, exiling your opponents decks. The combos themselves aren't that all original, but I've enjoyed how this deck plays out in the process of getting there.
My concern is diversifying my win conditions. If for whatever reason one of my combo pieces are removed, I'm not sure how I finish the game. For example, last night my Gonti was exiled. I put myself in a position to draw the my deck, but once my deck is in my hands taking infinite turns doesn't help me out. Luckly an opponent had played an Oona, Queen of the Fae which I was able to steal and use to exile everyone's deck.
Are there some synergistic win conditions that I may be missing? I don't want to just jam something in that doesn't really do anything except when you have the combo assembled. I've got some cards I'm considering listed in the maybe board that may benefit the deck. Venser is probably the only real win con in that list though.
I appreciate the feedback.
Oh I definitely see the value in Revoker, I just don’t put that much stock in it. You can name karn, ugin, or o stone, but whatever you don’t name still deals with Revoker or your entire board. Against ad nauseam, they just slaughter pact your Revoker once their deck is in their hand, or pact of negation the chord/Revoker in the first place.
I don't know if I'm sold on Revoker either. I don't think it's a bad sideboard choice, but I think you make it sound a lot better than it actually is when you add "win next turn" after every time it hits the battlefield.
The issue is if you're chording for revoker, you aren't chording for Ezuri or Archduid or something that actually wins you the game. Revoker usually stops you from losing, but it doesn't win you the game.
What are you looking to accomplish with nonbasics? I mean 50% isn't out of the ordinary if you're 10 island, 4 Mutavault, 2 Cavern, Oboro, Minamo, 2 Wanderwine Hub, but I wouldn't run Hinterland Harbor just for the sake of running nonbasics. Your last sentence sums up exactly why you shouldn't run those. You're going to have opening hands without islands and it's going to bite you. You shouldn't have to hope you have an island in your opener, you should just construct your deck so that isn't a factor.
Returning the land to your hand isn't for meta purposes, it's just a much more affordable and less risky cost than hoping you have a wizard in play.
Nikachu just put up a little video about this comparison. I'd check it out.