I like what's going on here. I don't have Jace's yet, so I added a third Seeker, a second God's Willing, and kept the 4th Mentor. I really like having God's Willing available to protect a mentor since it's usually the immediate target of removal. I also like the sideboard a lot. I've had some difficulty with den protectors recurring languish and hangarback walker is a great answer to that. They easily replace seekers in the abzan match up where seeker is lackluster. I personally don't run soul-fire grandmaster and have filled their spot with a 3rd negate and 2 erase, but that's more a concession to my local meta.
Roasts and valorous stances have been great in the deck and I think you're correct in trying to squeeze in more. I haven't tried the Siege out, but what is your reasoning for bringing it in? I also agree that the Tutelage package is better as something else. I am currently running Elspeth and Hallowed Moonlight as suggested in the article. Elspeth has been great, and Hallowed Moonlight is awesome against Rally decks and can even counter a hordeling outburst, but I may drop them in favor of something else since Rally has faded a bit in my area.
But I'm considering dropping a Disdainful Stroke for another Erase, and possibly the two Hallowed Moonlight for the 4th Fiery Impulse and a Valorous Stance. I suppose it is meta dependent, but negate has been much better for me than Disdainful Stroke has so I'm also looking at fitting in a 3rd Negate.
If you don't already follow the Standard Super League, I'd highly recommend checking out Josh Utter-Leyton's jeskai deck. This shell is the best I've seen for monastery mentor, it's a blast to play, and I think it puts up a pretty good fight against most of the field.
I tried out some of the changes he suggested and I really like the one of god's willing. Treasure Cruise and Magmatic insight provide plenty of draw to comfortably cut the Dig Through Time, and god's willing is a great way to protect a mentor or mantis rider as well as triggering prowess and filling the graveyard. The sideboard is interesting and probably has a lot of flexibility. I went more toward Nestico's set up as there is little control in my area so Tutelage is a bit less impactful. I'm interested to see if anyone else has put in time with this deck and come up with any side boarding tips because I feel like it is easy to dilute the deck when it comes to games 2 and 3.
What factors determine your choice of Leonin relic warder vs seal of cleansing?
My meta consists of Omnitell, Storm, Reanimator, Elves, and various forms of Sultai.
My current sb is
2x Council's Judgement
2x Rest in Peace
1x Containment Priest
1x Path to Exile
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Ratchet Bomb
1x Absolute Law
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Pithing Needle
2x Cataclysm
1x Leonin Relic-Warder
Does anyone know a good search term to filter out Magic Duels on twitch when searching for MTGO streaming? I used to be able to simply search "magic", but since duels has been release, it's flooded twitch.
Question - I'm thinking of getting into CoCo Elves as I'm nuts for good tribal decks. Problem is I only have 2 cavern of souls and currently can not afford more. Do you reckon this will be a huge problem? I solely play FNM, but our FNM environment contains some very competitive players. Mostly Grixis (Twin and Control), Jund and Abzan. Some Merfolk, Zoo and jank. No burn at all, funnily enough.
It shouldn't hurt you at all. The only decks you listed in your meta that cavern would be relevant against are the grixis decks. Elves runs 4 caverns because it can without being punished and not necessarily because it needs them. The decks run 30+ creatures which are almost all elves so Cavern is basically a forest with an upside.
Honestly if you get hit with a Pyro and don't have an answer, that is often the game right there, rebuilding is too slow even if you have cards in hand.
My point is that at least you have a chance. If you hit 3 land and can cast Lead the Stampede after being swept, it's better than what the other builds had to offer. My first impression is that this build is more resilient, because so far I've found it difficult to rely on Chord for a Forge-Tender or Dauntless Escort when you have to have it. The decks that are bringing in sweepers against you don't always back it up with a fast clock so you have a few turns to get back in to it.
Toolbox creatures like Scooze and Skite interact poorly with messenger and again no way to call them back after putting them to the bottom of the deck.
This is true, but that's why this build foregoes most of the bullets.
I'm interested to see which way this deck will evolve. Both the chord package and the Messenger/Stampede package are a blast to play.
Yeah I really don't see how proplayer77's list is better than the standard list; it still has the same if not more weakness to sweepers and removal in addition to being slower.
I think this deck is actually more resilient to sweepers due to the fact that it has so many tools to reload with. Rather than searching out a bullet with chord, it just plays a messenger or lead the stampede and draws several cards. This is the kind of effect you want after losing your board.
If you get hit with pyroclasm with no chord in hand, how frustrating is it to draw the chord or forge tender the next turn? Drawing a sylvan messenger or lead the stampede on the other hand is everything you could ask for.
I haven't cast Abbot enough to get a good feel, but my initial thoughts are that he's better in a burn heavy list. If you're relying more on your creatures, I don't think he'll be as strong because you'll likely want to play Abbot on curve where you'll lose some value. Mage-Ring Bully might be better in the two drop spot if you're looking for a beater.
Can anyone explain the sideboard plan to me? When do you board into the Dragon/Phoenix plan?
My guess is that the fliers come in against green devotion strategies that are trying to clog up the ground. I'd normally say Stormbreath is great against abzan, but not in games 2 or 3 when ultimate prices come out of the board. Phoenix seems good against abzan if they take out their charms, which isn't unreasonable. The fliers are also probably pretty good against control, but I think the main deck already has game against control. I guess this sideboard plan left me a little baffled too.
I don't think kolaghan's command is the reason because I feel like destroy target artifact is the weakest mode of the card. The counter magic and dismembers/vapor snags merfolk usually run give you enough tools to fight the battles you would normally want Spellskite for. If you're bringing it in for twin, you can snag, dismember, spell pierce the exarch or twin, and that disruption offers a lot more flexibility in other match ups where Spellskite may not be as good.
Thanks for the list and videos!! I ran it tonight in a small tournament and won all 3 matches 2-0. I like everything about it, except I'm not entirely sold on satyr firedancer. He seems really good against mono green devotion, but against any deck running any type of removal he opens the door to getting blown out if you were relying on him to take out creatures. Depending on the meta, more roasts may be good, maybe a scouring sands and another destructive revelry would be nice as the jeskai token match up can be rough. Revelry is also good against obelisk of Urd if goblins picks up in popularity.
My opinions formed from minimal testing so take it with a grain is salt.
This deck made its first top 8 showing that I see here... http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=90814
I like what's going on here. I don't have Jace's yet, so I added a third Seeker, a second God's Willing, and kept the 4th Mentor. I really like having God's Willing available to protect a mentor since it's usually the immediate target of removal. I also like the sideboard a lot. I've had some difficulty with den protectors recurring languish and hangarback walker is a great answer to that. They easily replace seekers in the abzan match up where seeker is lackluster. I personally don't run soul-fire grandmaster and have filled their spot with a 3rd negate and 2 erase, but that's more a concession to my local meta.
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Mantis Rider
4 Monastery Mentor
3 Seeker of the Way
Lands
2 Island
2 Mountain
2 Plains
3 Battlefield Forge
4 Flooded Strand
1 Mana Confluence
4 Mystic Monastery
3 Shivan Reef
1 Temple of Epiphany
2 Temple of Triumph
1 Dig Through Time
2 Gods Willing
4 Jeskai Charm
2 Valorous Stance
4 Wild Slash
3 Magmatic Insight
2 Roast
3 Treasure Cruise
3 Hangarback Walker
2 Erase
3 Magma Spray
3 Negate
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Roast
My current sb is
2 Negate
3 Fiery Impulse
2 Hallowed Moonlight
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Roast
1 Erase
But I'm considering dropping a Disdainful Stroke for another Erase, and possibly the two Hallowed Moonlight for the 4th Fiery Impulse and a Valorous Stance. I suppose it is meta dependent, but negate has been much better for me than Disdainful Stroke has so I'm also looking at fitting in a 3rd Negate.
Mark Nestico had a nice write up about the deck and which direction it could go on StarCity here... http://www.starcitygames.com/article/31434_Playing-Legacy-In-Standard.html
Here is a video of the deck in action... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64hknpTMHDw
I tried out some of the changes he suggested and I really like the one of god's willing. Treasure Cruise and Magmatic insight provide plenty of draw to comfortably cut the Dig Through Time, and god's willing is a great way to protect a mentor or mantis rider as well as triggering prowess and filling the graveyard. The sideboard is interesting and probably has a lot of flexibility. I went more toward Nestico's set up as there is little control in my area so Tutelage is a bit less impactful. I'm interested to see if anyone else has put in time with this deck and come up with any side boarding tips because I feel like it is easy to dilute the deck when it comes to games 2 and 3.
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Mantis Rider
4 Monastery Mentor
2 Seeker of the Way
Lands
2 Island
2 Mountain
2 Plains
3 Battlefield Forge
1 Bloodstained Mire
4 Flooded Strand
4 Mystic Monastery
3 Shivan Reef
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Temple of Epiphany
2 Temple of Triumph
1 Dig Through Time
4 Jeskai Charm
2 Valorous Stance
4 Wild Slash
4 Magmatic Insight
2 Roast
4 Treasure Cruise
4 Sphinx's Tutelage
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Erase
4 Fiery Impulse
2 Negate
2 Roast
My meta consists of Omnitell, Storm, Reanimator, Elves, and various forms of Sultai.
My current sb is
2x Council's Judgement
2x Rest in Peace
1x Containment Priest
1x Path to Exile
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Ratchet Bomb
1x Absolute Law
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Pithing Needle
2x Cataclysm
1x Leonin Relic-Warder
It shouldn't hurt you at all. The only decks you listed in your meta that cavern would be relevant against are the grixis decks. Elves runs 4 caverns because it can without being punished and not necessarily because it needs them. The decks run 30+ creatures which are almost all elves so Cavern is basically a forest with an upside.
My point is that at least you have a chance. If you hit 3 land and can cast Lead the Stampede after being swept, it's better than what the other builds had to offer. My first impression is that this build is more resilient, because so far I've found it difficult to rely on Chord for a Forge-Tender or Dauntless Escort when you have to have it. The decks that are bringing in sweepers against you don't always back it up with a fast clock so you have a few turns to get back in to it.
This is true, but that's why this build foregoes most of the bullets.
I'm interested to see which way this deck will evolve. Both the chord package and the Messenger/Stampede package are a blast to play.
I think this deck is actually more resilient to sweepers due to the fact that it has so many tools to reload with. Rather than searching out a bullet with chord, it just plays a messenger or lead the stampede and draws several cards. This is the kind of effect you want after losing your board.
If you get hit with pyroclasm with no chord in hand, how frustrating is it to draw the chord or forge tender the next turn? Drawing a sylvan messenger or lead the stampede on the other hand is everything you could ask for.
My guess is that the fliers come in against green devotion strategies that are trying to clog up the ground. I'd normally say Stormbreath is great against abzan, but not in games 2 or 3 when ultimate prices come out of the board. Phoenix seems good against abzan if they take out their charms, which isn't unreasonable. The fliers are also probably pretty good against control, but I think the main deck already has game against control. I guess this sideboard plan left me a little baffled too.
My opinions formed from minimal testing so take it with a grain is salt.
http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/3435_standard_open_top_8_profiles.html