MTG Salvation

Here's my decklist as of late. It has been doing really well in the current meta. I think the "army of small <3/<3 p/t creatures" decks have really played into my deck's strong point. A small adjustment here and there, and it's crushing them. Hardest decks for me to beat right now are Kess and Teferi/Baral. They tend to gain more card advantage, and I have a lot more dead cards against them than they do against me. I've typically had more success trying to bait out early counter battles on their turn, and slamming Ruhan with haste before turn 6. Life from the Loam continues to be one of the biggest pet peeve cards I come up against. So tempting to run some exile counter at times. That being said, I brought back Cataclysmic Gearhulk, and added an extra 3 mana sweeper for crowd control, and I love it.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ruhan-of-the-fomori-duel-commander/

Two cards I've been thinking on as possible hidden gems lately:

Not Forgotten, and Pulse of the Grid

Pulse of the Grid is a card I'm more on board with, while Not Forgotten is a more niche pick that can have some solid multipurpose use potentially. Pulse is something I'm going to test in place of my usual 4cmc raw card draw for potentially more value? Not Forgotten is kind of a cool, yet maybe bad card that helps me deal with cards like Life from the Loam, which is just such a thorn in my side when I play against it, or allows me to return a card from my own graveyard back to the top, while still producing some sort of immediate value (the token).

I could be wrong on both, but I enjoy testing some cool jank from time to time.

Anyone been eyeing the new Guilds of Ravnica spoilers? Deafening Clarion is a card I think I'm automatically adding. Being able to sweltering suns/anger to clear the way for Ruhan while simultaneously giving him lifelink I think can really swing a game. Also, I've been looking for a replacement for Glimmer of Genius for a while now, and Chemister's Insight is a good one for now, imo.

I've made quite a few changes to my list since last posted. I cut Wear/ tear for Invoke the Divine. Testing the whole ability vs. efficiency thing. I actually added Pyroclasm, just because I've been dealing with so many green decks. Also Spell Snare, and Settle the Wreckage. I think Settle is just too much of a blowout to worry about the drawback. I also added Fiery Confluence, as per someone's suggestion here somewhere. My two shining cards have been Settle the Wreckage and Search for Azcanta.

How have you liked Burst Lightning? It seems like an interesting choice that I see some make.

I think your list very top heavy, do you think you're losing too many games due to too many high cmc cards in hand when you cant play them?

I'm considering Settle the Wreckage, given fast creature decks are going to be the new "most aggro" decks to beat. I think it would be great with the addition of Teferi, Hero of Dominaria in a deck with land destruction, met with the fact that partner and Saskia decks are going to be huge.


I don't think the banning of Zurgo is going to change much for the deck, if at all. *Maybe* Timely Reinforcements or Blessed Alliance can be swapped out, but honestly, the lifegain seems valuable either way.

I think 6 drops can be good as long as they can act as a stand alone bomb. A 6 drop in duel commander meta needs to be good all by itself, and not situational, for it to be even considered, imo.

I haven't read the new partner mechanic. I'm able to have just one or the other as a part of the 99, right? I think I like Will as a stand alone walker. At 6 mana, the only reason why a walker would be justified, in my opinion, is if it can keep itself alive. I can see too many instances where Rowan hits the field, +2's, and dies before my next turn. If I have to set up a position in order for it to be great, like JtMS, it had better be something amazing, like JtMS, which comes out way sooner. My ruhan deck isn't really walker centric, and so I just feel like she isn't very good stand alone. Will on the other hand, the opponent has to really dedicate to the board in order to apply any pressure at all with him on the field, and if you're not worried about creatures, his -2 is sick.

Also, have you guys seen the new planswalker duo???







The red one seems like a much worse Gideon Jura, but this guy seems sick! Not too sure if he'd make an actual slot in the deck, but I think he's definitely worth testing. Rendering two creatures worthless and going to +6 loyalty is some solid protection, and the negative doesn't take a huge toll, and pulls us ahead.

All of those have been in my deck at one point in time. Abrade and Sweltering Suns I thought were going to be all stars for the deck, but I've found them both lacking for some reason. Sweltering being not a bad card even when it's dead is cool over Anger of the Gods, but I've been running into quite a few instances where the exile effect has been more helpful than the cycle effect. I have Sudden Demise in for Pyroclasm. That may very well change. That is more of a "we will see" change. I may add Force Spike back. Mortars has been a more niche card because my meta has a few midrange decks that have a decent amount of 3-4 toughness creatures, but I think Sudden Demise fills both roles of Mortars and Pyroclasm (maybe), so I could maybe cut it. Why would you cut Wear/Tear? I feel like every deck needs at least one dedicated artifact/enchantment removal. I've wanted to run something as spicy as Dismantling Blow or Orim's Thunder, but usually I just want to strictly remove it and do more with my turn, so the cmc mattered more for me. Would you cut DoJ because of how much redundancy I have already? And Boros Charm has come in so clutch more times than not. Dealing 4 to a walker I otherwise couldn't hit with Ruhan, giving a creature double strike, or Armageddon in response charm has been so sick for me. And yeah, I've liked Logic Knot.

Into the Roil, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Impulse, and Council's Judgment have all been at the top of my list to cut. Judgment was super useful for when Geist was a deck, but now it's really just a 3 mana catch-all removal spell, which these days is pretty slow. Impulse is cool, but it can be clunky early game with lining up with my counterspells turn two, and boardwipes turn four when I have the mana to counter and impulse. And not as impactful late game. Whereas the one mana trips are great early game, and not as impactful late game. I may give Restoration Angel a go, but what else do you guys think I may be missing here? (I don't know how to import decks nicely so here's tappedout)

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ruhan-of-the-fomori-duel-commander/

I used to play all of those in my Wydwen Control deck, but I think because it was dedicated to two colors, it needed to pack a lot more bounce and card advantage. I wouldn't play them in a three color deck. And with the life change, I haven't liked 3 cmc counters as much as I used to. Unless they are absolute bombs of counterspells, I don't want to play them if they're >2 cmc. I have been considering taking out a few cards to make room for Lyra Dawnbringer and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, and Into the Roil has been one floating at the top of my list of cards to potentially cut. Hasn't been operating at the level it used to. I also have been feeling very meh about Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, sadly. I've also noticed that neither of you run Condescend. You guys don't like it?



Tinki, how have you liked Restoration Angel? It seems like a really solid card, even when you're not using it's EtB ability.

Tinki, a few things I noticed with your deck. I really really like Fiery Impulse, and I'm not sure why I overlooked it. I have found Dack, and Azorius Charm to be under performing, how do you like them? Same with Balance. I would love it if it didn't make me reduce my hand size. But I find myself having to play around the card to force it to have value moreso than it just being inherently awesome, like I was expecting.

Yeah I noticed you're cmc is overall a lot more top heavy than my own, and more proactive, Matthew. Keranos is too slow, all the way around, in my opinion. You play it early, and tap a lot of mana for it, and get nothing out of it immediately. You play it late, and he can gather a lot of value, but it may not be enough to make a difference. Teferi HAS to be answered, and Teferi can do two very different and awesome things as soon as he comes out. I plan on using him as soon as he drops. I hate buying standard inflated cards. Same with the kinda Baneslayer.