Summoners pact can be better than chord, but I fear in only a very few situations.
Pact brings it to hand, leaving it open to (instant) discard and disruption on the cast. If you don't win that turn (which is hard bc your sold win is a r/b cap) then we r paying 4 next turn. So a net of +1 over chord.
Chord can be cast and bring value at instant speed. A utility we can use to fetch a blocker in combat or in responce to whatever our opponent is doing. We can't do that with pact.
Pact may be easier to cast, but it's restrictions added to the "lose game" clause leave me want to stay with chord.
On that subject though, I have been tempted by summoners trap, for if/when blue and countering becomes heavier in my meta.
I run 1 of each in my main. The voice is good, if u want pure control on your turn (over voices psudo) you can try grand arbiter. I love Lili as a late/on curve drop as her -x can retrieve a pesisted finks or easily the seer to complete the combo.
I still run the angelfeeder main bc the majority of my meta brings in hate game 2, so it's easier to just leave it in main. There are still a few players that aren't Familiar with it and waste removal on a finks rather than feeder.
against a sword/thopter deck i am relaying solely on Orzhov Pontiff to wipe out their tokens before they become an issue.
if blue is going to uptick (specifically counters) i might go for the vexing susher, though a grand arbiter might work in some regard.
i personally have to wait a week or so, my local meta quickly flickered to post-eldrazi a couple weeks ago it fear of the looming ban, but not sure how many will go for AV or SoM decks .
I meant that the thune trigger isn't canceled by linvala.
With angels on the field (at that point a stuck board more or less) you can freely swing in with your angel and finks as long as there isn't any GY hate. I may not be able to sac for the combo, but I can start swinging for the fences.
So true. It'll fall after people open boxes.
It's a great land, and I personally love it. Going to need a few for standard and edh. But unless colorless starts working outside of eldrazi it will be a 2-3 of in decks that go wide for threat/finisher.
I'll be happy if I open one tonight, but I won't build my deck in hopes of popping it.
2, with 1 aritocrat or volroz. On the weird off chance opponent needles the seer.
Also aristocrat can have a cute line of play. Besides sacing another creature to survive a pyroclasm. Having the sisters out with a finks (or the one thune), she can buff up, become unblock able to swing in for leathal.
I also run the feeder combo main. I's hard to chord for angel. But many of my opponents rarely see the feeder coming. Also both pieces act as a pseudo copy of combo parts. And angel works around linvala in the mirror.
I personally run it SB. It is an easy and progressive line of play against graveyard hate. Game 2 my opponents usually bring in relic, ooze, nihil bomb, or rip. While I keep mage and bring in sage as well the angel feeder combo is good to get around it, as well as a fun surprise as most assume we play small creatures without evasion.
There are a few, very narrow cases when sage is a little better.
She can not be hated on by pithing needle or linvala, though in the mirror im not aure what you are trying to blow up. Sage stays on the field after she kills something. Useful if u need to cast chord after to get a piece or still need to swing with something. Again, she is not the best for that, and mage is better in every other case, but I wouldn't discount her.
I wanted that to work. But we can't cycle sac finks to it, and our other creatures are better off alive. Gavony is still a better option.
Also this card:
Traverse the Ulvenwald
G
Sorcery
Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
Delirium - If there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, instead search your library for a creature or land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
I wanted it to work. I keep looking at the released cards and trying to make them work and they just art there yet. Our deck runs 4 card types (creature, land, instant, artifact (if running skite)) and since 1 is a 1-2 of in the whole list it will be a pain to get to delirium. Plus it get the creature to hand a sorcery speed. Think I would rather pay the extra 2 to just flash into the field.
I will sit here and wait, but after abzan's rise to teir 1 I am going to hold off hope for an all star to come for our shell.
Went to a lgs last night with my (subpar) build and went 3-1! A personal best.
R1: affinity
This player had been gone for a while and tended to play to all of his outs instead of the 2-3 he could have stuck with and won.
G1: my t2 pridemage halted his ravager-sac swinging with ornitopter. I blocked with repeated bird's until I was able to combo off a company.
G2: he was kind enough to show a tophor orb on sideboarding and I conceded that my deck folds to it and gravy ad hate. During the match he gets the orb out and I get my mage out again, but I'm too late and die to a huge ornitopter.
G3: we wind up with a funky board state with me having a pridemage and archangel holding off his ornitopter and ravanger. We go to turns and I win on turn 5 by swinging with my finks and angel.
R2: naya burn
A regular that bounces between a few decks but always seems to be running red.
G1: race the burns with a pridemage swinging, won off a gavony activation before damage. He could have won this had he helix ed one of my creatures instead of my face as he showed the spells but he didn't have the mana to cast them all.
G2: I feel so bad about this game. I board in my red-hate and get a hand with kor firewalker and leyline of sanctity. His face when I throw it down on his opening...priceless. he concedes as there are no answers in his deck and he didn't think to board in wear//tear.
R3: Grishoalbrand
Long time player, but comes ever so often to the store.
G1: I get the play, he draws and discards griseldaddy. Digs a couple turns and turn 4 breaches a worm, I combo off on a chord.
G2: boarding is hard but I decide on my cards and shuffel. The round goes simalarly, he breaches a work, i compay the sac and finks, take 15 and down to 2 life. My turn i draw and cas melira. I go into my deck to show my SB cards (a habit at my lgs, if u liked the person/games) and realize I had puled my sideboard cards out and shuffled my out board back in!!!
R4: the mirror
My opponent is a solid regular and retired semi pro/amateur player.
G1: I keep a solid play and race him to pieces. I get infinite life and he has 2 pieces on the field. I punt the gave here my scrying up my redcap. How is that a punt? I had overlooked my mana base and realized after I drew I couldn't cast it. I was shown I could have chorded instead to win this round.
G2: even nuttier than the first. On sideboard I bring in removal (neither of us have linvala). I keep a hand of 2 path, 1 bird, 1 dismember. We both build and distroy respective trinities. I could have lasted a but longer had I pathed his vorloz instead of the cap.
In the end I win enough store credit for a hierarchy (they were out of skites!) And a plethora of knowledge.
In regards to 8rack, I have yet to be matched against it, but I would say that e witness is your friend.
What do you guys think about the new Anguished Unmaking?
Anguished Unmaking
1WB
Instant
Exile target nonland permanent. You lose 3 life.
I think its an autoinclude as a one off in our sideboard.
I am inclined to disagree. It's not creature so it now is competiting with the few spell slots we have available. And path is just as effective and cheaper. We also have a MB pridemage we can chord for to nab any enchants and artifacts. The only thing this reaches that we don't already is planeswalkers.
I, personally, run a phyrexian revoker to needle against troublesome planeswalkers or ability creatures. Also, abrupt decay still works against the same things, but in a restricted field of cmc.
So there are plenty of other lines we can and most do run, this is not autoinclude.
G1 it has already been said: visera seer. living end is worded in weirdly, but essentially you want to be able to get your creatures into the graveyard BEFORE living end resolves. Having a sac outlet on the field slows the opponent down until they have a fairy macabre to exile your creatures before they go off. Also if u main board it, a scavaging ooze works wonders early in the match. Eating his creatures before he combos.
G2 and 3 you want to bring in eidolon of rhetoric (this is one of the special match ups as to why he is in the 75), ooze if he is not main, and any self-sac creatures like BFT or dauntless escort. In the second match your opponent is probably bring in leyline of void and cast some of his creatures. Our goal is still to combo if we can or get an answer out, but don't shy away from swinging even with the 1/1s unless u need to chord.
I wouldn't be too worried. In order to "kill" the deck they would have to ban 2+ cards. Something that has been exceptionally rare for magic. Usually they ban a key card in a brutal deck like summer bloom in amulet, or twin in twin. This deck has very spread out functons over several cards that come together.
Further we are not a turn 2-3 auto win like some infect decks and cure out. We play a relatively 'fair' and interactive style, and many teir decks can handle us going to infinite life. The deck also has several cheap and easily usable hate (grafdigger cage, rip, scooze).
Finally even in the extremely rare case that they do ban 2-3 key pieces (finks, redcap,chord, company) we can just shove the angelfeeder duo into the slots and add some cantrip and ramp and be just fine...until the next banning!
Missing a couple non-combo pieces, nobles, skites, horizons. And was looking into budget options while I save up for them.
I know skite is irreplaceable so i have to pay out for that.
the horizons I am subbing shocks and thickets for, but do we need them that badly to begin with? I know cantrip is powerful. But I find myself comboing off with 2-3 lands and rather keep my pieces in the library than my hand.
The nobles I thought could be subbed by avycons pilgrim. Thoughts? I understand it cuts off several lines of play and they don't pull the removal that bird's or nobles do.
Also I was curious how rally the ancestors might do in the side against decks like jund/tron/eldrazi/heavy removal. GY hate is still a problem. But with them in we could throw out a creature a turn to hold off the brunt or thin removal then with 5 mana insta-win through combo pieces. Maybe encen rally to chord for the last piece?
Given that we're playing a toolbox deck, adding one card may actually make sense if you feel you need that specific card in the main but can't cut anything else. Not really sure why he's playing Sigarda, though, other than her being a great beater against jund-style decks (which we're already good against).
I also really like the look of Duskwatch Recruiter - though more-so the unflipped side than the flipped side! Recruiter seems like he'd be amazing in grindy matchups. It's sorta like a mini Company effect. Thing is, just thinking about it, I feel like this might be more relevant in an Angel/Feeder shell that's not using Company in order to add consistency to the deck and give a discount to Archangel. Either way, though, I'm excited about the card and can't wait to try it in this shell and other creature-based decks.
Lewandowski came really close to top 8'ing... if he'd beaten Frank Lepore he'd have gotten 8th (and if he'd had a bit more luck, like no totally whiffing on his Company in g3 that might've happened).
I guess adding the 1 extra card isn't a big deal as long our company % stays high enough to justify it.
I get that she stops forced sacking, I guess he figured it would be a bigger problem for our deck than i imagined. Since archangel is the same cmc and is just W not w/g, I might stay with the feeder combo.
As far as the duskwatcher i'd rather run yisan, wanderer bard. Dusk only puts into hand, so it filters, but if I want a card in hand I want it to be one of our rare noncreature cards. Yisan is a bit more costly and slow, but if he stays out long enough in a grindy match up he can grab any key piece as he gears up. 1 dork/seer, 2 ana/skite, 3 finks/feeder, 4 cap, 5 angel.
Pact brings it to hand, leaving it open to (instant) discard and disruption on the cast. If you don't win that turn (which is hard bc your sold win is a r/b cap) then we r paying 4 next turn. So a net of +1 over chord.
Chord can be cast and bring value at instant speed. A utility we can use to fetch a blocker in combat or in responce to whatever our opponent is doing. We can't do that with pact.
Pact may be easier to cast, but it's restrictions added to the "lose game" clause leave me want to stay with chord.
On that subject though, I have been tempted by summoners trap, for if/when blue and countering becomes heavier in my meta.
I still run the angelfeeder main bc the majority of my meta brings in hate game 2, so it's easier to just leave it in main. There are still a few players that aren't Familiar with it and waste removal on a finks rather than feeder.
if blue is going to uptick (specifically counters) i might go for the vexing susher, though a grand arbiter might work in some regard.
i personally have to wait a week or so, my local meta quickly flickered to post-eldrazi a couple weeks ago it fear of the looming ban, but not sure how many will go for AV or SoM decks .
With angels on the field (at that point a stuck board more or less) you can freely swing in with your angel and finks as long as there isn't any GY hate. I may not be able to sac for the combo, but I can start swinging for the fences.
It's a great land, and I personally love it. Going to need a few for standard and edh. But unless colorless starts working outside of eldrazi it will be a 2-3 of in decks that go wide for threat/finisher.
I'll be happy if I open one tonight, but I won't build my deck in hopes of popping it.
Also aristocrat can have a cute line of play. Besides sacing another creature to survive a pyroclasm. Having the sisters out with a finks (or the one thune), she can buff up, become unblock able to swing in for leathal.
I also run the feeder combo main. I's hard to chord for angel. But many of my opponents rarely see the feeder coming. Also both pieces act as a pseudo copy of combo parts. And angel works around linvala in the mirror.
She can not be hated on by pithing needle or linvala, though in the mirror im not aure what you are trying to blow up. Sage stays on the field after she kills something. Useful if u need to cast chord after to get a piece or still need to swing with something. Again, she is not the best for that, and mage is better in every other case, but I wouldn't discount her.
Also this card:
Traverse the Ulvenwald
G
Sorcery
Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
Delirium - If there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, instead search your library for a creature or land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
I wanted it to work. I keep looking at the released cards and trying to make them work and they just art there yet. Our deck runs 4 card types (creature, land, instant, artifact (if running skite)) and since 1 is a 1-2 of in the whole list it will be a pain to get to delirium. Plus it get the creature to hand a sorcery speed. Think I would rather pay the extra 2 to just flash into the field.
I will sit here and wait, but after abzan's rise to teir 1 I am going to hold off hope for an all star to come for our shell.
R1: affinity
This player had been gone for a while and tended to play to all of his outs instead of the 2-3 he could have stuck with and won.
G1: my t2 pridemage halted his ravager-sac swinging with ornitopter. I blocked with repeated bird's until I was able to combo off a company.
G2: he was kind enough to show a tophor orb on sideboarding and I conceded that my deck folds to it and gravy ad hate. During the match he gets the orb out and I get my mage out again, but I'm too late and die to a huge ornitopter.
G3: we wind up with a funky board state with me having a pridemage and archangel holding off his ornitopter and ravanger. We go to turns and I win on turn 5 by swinging with my finks and angel.
R2: naya burn
A regular that bounces between a few decks but always seems to be running red.
G1: race the burns with a pridemage swinging, won off a gavony activation before damage. He could have won this had he helix ed one of my creatures instead of my face as he showed the spells but he didn't have the mana to cast them all.
G2: I feel so bad about this game. I board in my red-hate and get a hand with kor firewalker and leyline of sanctity. His face when I throw it down on his opening...priceless. he concedes as there are no answers in his deck and he didn't think to board in wear//tear.
R3: Grishoalbrand
Long time player, but comes ever so often to the store.
G1: I get the play, he draws and discards griseldaddy. Digs a couple turns and turn 4 breaches a worm, I combo off on a chord.
G2: boarding is hard but I decide on my cards and shuffel. The round goes simalarly, he breaches a work, i compay the sac and finks, take 15 and down to 2 life. My turn i draw and cas melira. I go into my deck to show my SB cards (a habit at my lgs, if u liked the person/games) and realize I had puled my sideboard cards out and shuffled my out board back in!!!
R4: the mirror
My opponent is a solid regular and retired semi pro/amateur player.
G1: I keep a solid play and race him to pieces. I get infinite life and he has 2 pieces on the field. I punt the gave here my scrying up my redcap. How is that a punt? I had overlooked my mana base and realized after I drew I couldn't cast it. I was shown I could have chorded instead to win this round.
G2: even nuttier than the first. On sideboard I bring in removal (neither of us have linvala). I keep a hand of 2 path, 1 bird, 1 dismember. We both build and distroy respective trinities. I could have lasted a but longer had I pathed his vorloz instead of the cap.
In the end I win enough store credit for a hierarchy (they were out of skites!) And a plethora of knowledge.
In regards to 8rack, I have yet to be matched against it, but I would say that e witness is your friend.
I am inclined to disagree. It's not creature so it now is competiting with the few spell slots we have available. And path is just as effective and cheaper. We also have a MB pridemage we can chord for to nab any enchants and artifacts. The only thing this reaches that we don't already is planeswalkers.
I, personally, run a phyrexian revoker to needle against troublesome planeswalkers or ability creatures. Also, abrupt decay still works against the same things, but in a restricted field of cmc.
So there are plenty of other lines we can and most do run, this is not autoinclude.
G2 and 3 you want to bring in eidolon of rhetoric (this is one of the special match ups as to why he is in the 75), ooze if he is not main, and any self-sac creatures like BFT or dauntless escort. In the second match your opponent is probably bring in leyline of void and cast some of his creatures. Our goal is still to combo if we can or get an answer out, but don't shy away from swinging even with the 1/1s unless u need to chord.
Further we are not a turn 2-3 auto win like some infect decks and cure out. We play a relatively 'fair' and interactive style, and many teir decks can handle us going to infinite life. The deck also has several cheap and easily usable hate (grafdigger cage, rip, scooze).
Finally even in the extremely rare case that they do ban 2-3 key pieces (finks, redcap,chord, company) we can just shove the angelfeeder duo into the slots and add some cantrip and ramp and be just fine...until the next banning!
Missing a couple non-combo pieces, nobles, skites, horizons. And was looking into budget options while I save up for them.
I know skite is irreplaceable so i have to pay out for that.
the horizons I am subbing shocks and thickets for, but do we need them that badly to begin with? I know cantrip is powerful. But I find myself comboing off with 2-3 lands and rather keep my pieces in the library than my hand.
The nobles I thought could be subbed by avycons pilgrim. Thoughts? I understand it cuts off several lines of play and they don't pull the removal that bird's or nobles do.
Also I was curious how rally the ancestors might do in the side against decks like jund/tron/eldrazi/heavy removal. GY hate is still a problem. But with them in we could throw out a creature a turn to hold off the brunt or thin removal then with 5 mana insta-win through combo pieces. Maybe encen rally to chord for the last piece?
I guess adding the 1 extra card isn't a big deal as long our company % stays high enough to justify it.
I get that she stops forced sacking, I guess he figured it would be a bigger problem for our deck than i imagined. Since archangel is the same cmc and is just W not w/g, I might stay with the feeder combo.
As far as the duskwatcher i'd rather run yisan, wanderer bard. Dusk only puts into hand, so it filters, but if I want a card in hand I want it to be one of our rare noncreature cards. Yisan is a bit more costly and slow, but if he stays out long enough in a grindy match up he can grab any key piece as he gears up. 1 dork/seer, 2 ana/skite, 3 finks/feeder, 4 cap, 5 angel.