I'm a little disappointed to learn that Blood Moon is so valuable, I was hoping to avoid having to acquire those.
How comparable is Xenagos to Gideon AOZ? Are you limiting Xenagos to 2 just for planeswalker uniqueness? I guess his ultimate is pretty terrible here...
Have you tried the Utopia Sprawl thing? That's what I'm currently testing. Seems like it could be pretty fragile, though. Also, Blood Moon knocks off any Sprawls attached to duals.
4 things going for Xenagos: can cast him without mana dorks or oath easier, tokens have haste, can generate a TON of mana to HARD cast emrakul around turn 5 or 6 easily, pw uniqueness so you can have 2-4 PW pumping out tokens easier. You are right that I never ultimate him, but I don't use him for that. He is what I use to get to casting PW, emmy or doubling seasons + pw on same turn.
Regarding blood moon. Against 3 color decks/tron you just need to slow the game down, this is what blood moon does. If it isn't your style then I suggest looking at the Tamiyo/Eternal Witness infinite turns type of superfriends deck. They tend to slow the game down with fogs or counter spells. I don't see this deck beating Tron, Jund or Jeskai without it. We already have weak matchups with infect and burn.
I am running the MTGO list that 5-0'd and here are some of my thoughts.
Blood moon is required, the matchups it does something is to delay long enough to have your PW win the game. It is better than Doubling Season in a lot of matchups
You want your PW to either gum up the board with tokens or be a win condition itself. Gideon Jurra is of course the only PW that really does this without tokens as he can prevent creature decks from hitting Nahiri or forcing a tap down to clear the way for you.
only thing I wish this deck had more of is card draw or filtering. I might play around with cutting the arbor elves for 2 Tamiyo, Field Researchers and possibly 2 Oath of Jace
You want to limit your PW names by 2-3 with the exception of Nahiri who is 3-4. For example, Jace, Unraveler of Secrets might be good but no where near as good as AoT and you want 1-2 of him.
Any PW that costs more than 4 mana better have a good reason. Elspeth can do 3-12 tokens a turn and then anthem or board whipe leaving your tokens. Chandra can do 2-8 3/1 tramplers, board clear or wheel your hand. Jurra can be perfect protection or set up alpha strike. They are all also 1 ofs.
Xenegos has let me hard cast Emrakul or multiple planeswalkers more than I thought possible.
I think that the most powerful versions of the deck so far have been the ones that play the cards that are strictly the most powerful. Blood Moon and Ensnaring Bridge - for example - completely screw certain decks. Play them together and you might not have a synergistic build, but at least you've got a decent chance to hose any particular opponent. Get lucky with your matchups and you go far.
Quick counter point. This might not be the best time for Bridge builds. Most people are running a lot of artifact hate for thopter. So much that Affinity has really struggled in the last 2 big events.
I think GDD is a better finisher than Avacyn in non-bridge builds. It can do spot removal, burn, mass LD, single LD and sweeper in addition to being a 4/4 menace threat.
I could only get 2 Nahiri even though I think I want 3. Also no crucible so I went with this. Rest In Peace is currently dead in my sideboard with no graveyard decks in my meta on mondays.
Match 1 - Jund Control: custom more controlling version of Jund. He knew what I had built.
Game 1: Turn 2 LD targeting green. He got skimpy on green and eventually scooped when ghostquarters began just being LD and his only green sources left in the deck were hissing quagmires and I had Ajani resolved with a magus clock.
Sideboard plan: 3 Leylines - Took out 3 Magus because he was creature light relying on man lands
Game 2: He kept a 2 land hand and scooped on turn 5 when he had no lands and a Nahiri hit the battle field.
Match 2 - Burn: He had no idea what I was playing. I think he valued 7 cards and burn spells a bit too highly and didn't mull for haste creatures like he should have.
Game 1: Bolted Eidolon as soon as it resolved as I was holding it for something bigger than his lavamancer. I get magus down and he misses the trigger for his second Eidolon (I gave him a backsie on this first missed trigger). I sweep the board with Anger while keeping him off white as best I can the whole game. He dies to me swinging with magus, helix from Ajani and Bolt in hand with the kill next turn in hand.
Sideboard: 3 Leylines and 3 Kor: Took out GDD and 1 of each LD
Game 2: He kept a 2 land hand with 3 rift bolt. I destroy 1 land and then the second but I am already at 10. I am able to destroy 2 more lands as I get a Nahiri down. I win with him at 1 land and one Goblin Guide as he sees Emmy hit the battle field
Match 3: Merfolk- He thought I was on living end
Game 1: I get the nut draw for land destruction and keep him off Islands. I had all 3 anger of the gods in my hand by turn 4 and got around his 1 spreading seas. We reach a stalemate when my friend jokes I only need 7 turns to cast an Emmy. Laughs were had. Eventually he scoops to an Ajani ultimate with a Magus on the battlefield.
Sideboard: 3 Stony Silence and 1 Wear Tear, took out GDD and one bolt.
Game 2: He had fast curse catchers and I was down because I had nothing to stop the beats without him countering it.
Game 3: Instead of going LD route I decide to do a turn 3 Ghostly prison into turn 4 Magus. That puts a stop on the game as he has to do crazy maintenance with an eventual 4 Master of the Waves on the board but can't attack. Ajani and some LD help keep him at bay as I am using Ajani to keep any lords or cursecatchers down and he can only ever attack with one creature and it was a 4/5 elemental token that Magus can block. Eventually Nahiri lands and when I ultimate he stops and goes, "Do you actually have an Emrakul?" and scoops to that beautiful foiled woman of pain.
I need to work on my sideboard and decide the best things to take out better but otherwise the deck went very well taking out 2 Tier 1 decks. Next week I will keep track of what hands I decide to keep for reporting here. From what I recall I only had to mull once in game 2 against Merfolk. I had turn 2 LD with Trokair out 3 times all night. No one was ever able to recover from it fully.
My thought is that a single teachings can let you skimp on a few cards in multiples.
If you are running AV you are running 4. GDD is amazing from what I can tell. It is a threat and can cast a lot of the spells you want including AV. This is what I am trying next 2 weeks.
With AV I think I can cut lands to 23. This maybe ill-advised and will be the first thing I look to fix.
My meta for people that I can count to show up weekly is Jeskai Burn (He plays this or Jund), Affinity, Tron, Elves, Izzet Blitz, merfolk and Kiki Chord.
Since I am the only one running black aside from Jund in the store Doom blade seems like an obvious sideboard card.
I am the only person that runs GY decks currently for the most part (1 rare Kiki Chord deck and I play Living End and Storm) so I took out RIP. Affinity I board in Anger and Stony. Tron I bring in Stony. Burn decks I bring in Leyline and Kor (at least 2 with an Izzet blitz and Jeskai Burn). Nevermore is brought in for combo decks. First one hits their combo piece and any other hits possible hate. Thinking of bringing it in for chord and coco but am unsure. Anger brought in for any creature decks.
Everything before the colon is a cost of the trigger. It is one action. Think of it like this; could you do just one or the other? No, you have to do both so they are the same action.
Bonus rules question: If you have The Gitrog Monster in play and activate Sinister Concoction, milling a land and also discarding a land, do you draw two cards?
You draw 1 card for every trigger that puts a land in your graveyard. So with that you would draw just one.
DP is to find the silver bullet we need.
Grasp can be traded for Silkwrap.
Languish is the board wipe we want. Planar outburst is our only other real option.
If I swap Grasp for silkwrap and Trangress for Wasteland strangler then the deck does a lot better against aggro. It depends on how much you want your maindeck to be tooled against midrange vs aggro.
Bans happened. I think the deck does well against Sword of the Meek decks without tweaking. If visions makes control more viable then it could be interesting as Jeskai and Grixis look to be the strongest control decks and they have greedy manabases
4 things going for Xenagos: can cast him without mana dorks or oath easier, tokens have haste, can generate a TON of mana to HARD cast emrakul around turn 5 or 6 easily, pw uniqueness so you can have 2-4 PW pumping out tokens easier. You are right that I never ultimate him, but I don't use him for that. He is what I use to get to casting PW, emmy or doubling seasons + pw on same turn.
Regarding blood moon. Against 3 color decks/tron you just need to slow the game down, this is what blood moon does. If it isn't your style then I suggest looking at the Tamiyo/Eternal Witness infinite turns type of superfriends deck. They tend to slow the game down with fogs or counter spells. I don't see this deck beating Tron, Jund or Jeskai without it. We already have weak matchups with infect and burn.
The list I am changing to after EMN rotates in.
2 Arbor Elf
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Noble Hierarch
Enchants
2 Blood Moon
2 Doubling Season
4 Oath of Nissa
PW
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Gideon Jura
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
1 Ral Zarek
2 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Breeding Pool
4 Forest
2 Gavony Township
1 Horizon Canopy
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2 Stomping Ground
3 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Temple Garden
1 Westvale Abbey
3 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Blood Moon
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 X
3 Stony Silence
3 Worship
3 x in the SB is for what my meta needs. Typically there are no GY decks in my meta except when I run Living End.
Quick counter point. This might not be the best time for Bridge builds. Most people are running a lot of artifact hate for thopter. So much that Affinity has really struggled in the last 2 big events.
4 Arid Mesa
4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 clifftop retreat
4 ghost quarter
4 Sacred Foundry
2 Plains
2 Mountain
Instants
2 Lightning Helix
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Boom//Bust
4 Molten Rain
4 Stone Rain
3 Anger of the Gods
Ench
4 Ghostly Prison
PlanesWalkers
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
2 Ajani Vengeant
Creatures
4 Magus of the Tabernacle
3 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Rest in Peace
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Kor Firewalker
3 Stony Silence
1 Wear // Tear
1 Ricochet Trap
1 Shatterstorn
I could only get 2 Nahiri even though I think I want 3. Also no crucible so I went with this. Rest In Peace is currently dead in my sideboard with no graveyard decks in my meta on mondays.
Match 1 - Jund Control: custom more controlling version of Jund. He knew what I had built.
Game 1: Turn 2 LD targeting green. He got skimpy on green and eventually scooped when ghostquarters began just being LD and his only green sources left in the deck were hissing quagmires and I had Ajani resolved with a magus clock.
Sideboard plan: 3 Leylines - Took out 3 Magus because he was creature light relying on man lands
Game 2: He kept a 2 land hand and scooped on turn 5 when he had no lands and a Nahiri hit the battle field.
Match 2 - Burn: He had no idea what I was playing. I think he valued 7 cards and burn spells a bit too highly and didn't mull for haste creatures like he should have.
Game 1: Bolted Eidolon as soon as it resolved as I was holding it for something bigger than his lavamancer. I get magus down and he misses the trigger for his second Eidolon (I gave him a backsie on this first missed trigger). I sweep the board with Anger while keeping him off white as best I can the whole game. He dies to me swinging with magus, helix from Ajani and Bolt in hand with the kill next turn in hand.
Sideboard: 3 Leylines and 3 Kor: Took out GDD and 1 of each LD
Game 2: He kept a 2 land hand with 3 rift bolt. I destroy 1 land and then the second but I am already at 10. I am able to destroy 2 more lands as I get a Nahiri down. I win with him at 1 land and one Goblin Guide as he sees Emmy hit the battle field
Match 3: Merfolk- He thought I was on living end
Game 1: I get the nut draw for land destruction and keep him off Islands. I had all 3 anger of the gods in my hand by turn 4 and got around his 1 spreading seas. We reach a stalemate when my friend jokes I only need 7 turns to cast an Emmy. Laughs were had. Eventually he scoops to an Ajani ultimate with a Magus on the battlefield.
Sideboard: 3 Stony Silence and 1 Wear Tear, took out GDD and one bolt.
Game 2: He had fast curse catchers and I was down because I had nothing to stop the beats without him countering it.
Game 3: Instead of going LD route I decide to do a turn 3 Ghostly prison into turn 4 Magus. That puts a stop on the game as he has to do crazy maintenance with an eventual 4 Master of the Waves on the board but can't attack. Ajani and some LD help keep him at bay as I am using Ajani to keep any lords or cursecatchers down and he can only ever attack with one creature and it was a 4/5 elemental token that Magus can block. Eventually Nahiri lands and when I ultimate he stops and goes, "Do you actually have an Emrakul?" and scoops to that beautiful foiled woman of pain.
I need to work on my sideboard and decide the best things to take out better but otherwise the deck went very well taking out 2 Tier 1 decks. Next week I will keep track of what hands I decide to keep for reporting here. From what I recall I only had to mull once in game 2 against Merfolk. I had turn 2 LD with Trokair out 3 times all night. No one was ever able to recover from it fully.
If you are running AV you are running 4. GDD is amazing from what I can tell. It is a threat and can cast a lot of the spells you want including AV. This is what I am trying next 2 weeks.
1x Blood Crypt
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Creeping Tar Pit
3x Island
1x Mountain
4x Polluted Delta
3x Scalding Tarn
1x Smoldering Marsh
2x Steam Vents
2x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
Instant (18)
1x Cryptic Command
1x Electrolyze
2x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
1x Mystical Teachings
2x Remand
4x Rune Snag
3x Terminate
2x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
1x Keranos, God of Storms
2x Snapcaster Mage
1x Vendilion Clique
Sorcery (11)
4x Ancestral Vision
2x Cruel Ultimatum
2x Damnation
3x Serum Visions
Planeswalker (2)
1x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
3x Anger of the Gods
1x Batterskull
4x Dispel
3x Doom Blade
3x Fulminator Mage
1x Izzet Staticaster
With AV I think I can cut lands to 23. This maybe ill-advised and will be the first thing I look to fix.
My meta for people that I can count to show up weekly is Jeskai Burn (He plays this or Jund), Affinity, Tron, Elves, Izzet Blitz, merfolk and Kiki Chord.
Since I am the only one running black aside from Jund in the store Doom blade seems like an obvious sideboard card.
I look forward to testing this.
4 Arid Mesa
4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Temple of Triumph
3 ghost quarter
4 Sacred Foundry
2 Plains
2 Mountain
1 Drownyard Temple
Instants
2 Lightning Helix
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Boom//Bust
4 Molten Rain
4 Stone Rain
Ench
4 Ghostly Prison
Arti
2 Crucible of Worlds
PlanesWalkers
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
2 Ajani Vengeant
Creatures
4 Magus of the Tabernacle
3 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Nevermore
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Kor Firewalker
3 Stony Silence
3 Anger of the Gods
I am the only person that runs GY decks currently for the most part (1 rare Kiki Chord deck and I play Living End and Storm) so I took out RIP. Affinity I board in Anger and Stony. Tron I bring in Stony. Burn decks I bring in Leyline and Kor (at least 2 with an Izzet blitz and Jeskai Burn). Nevermore is brought in for combo decks. First one hits their combo piece and any other hits possible hate. Thinking of bringing it in for chord and coco but am unsure. Anger brought in for any creature decks.
You draw 1 card for every trigger that puts a land in your graveyard. So with that you would draw just one.
4x Angelic Purge
2x Dark Petition
2x Languish
2x Read the Bones
2x Ruinous Path
3x Transgress the Mind
2x Bound by Moonsilver
2x Dead Weight
4x Demonic Pact
2x Starfield of Nyx
4x Stasis Snare
1x Virulent Plague
4x Caves of Koilos
3x Forsaken Sanctuary
5x Plains
4x Shambling Vent
9x Swamp
Instant (5)
3x Anguished Unmaking
2x Grasp of Darkness
DP is to find the silver bullet we need.
Grasp can be traded for Silkwrap.
Languish is the board wipe we want. Planar outburst is our only other real option.
If I swap Grasp for silkwrap and Trangress for Wasteland strangler then the deck does a lot better against aggro. It depends on how much you want your maindeck to be tooled against midrange vs aggro.