Cool new card! But we already have a lot of card advantage options for 3 mana: Renegade Rallier, Tireless Tracker, Courser of Kruphix, Eternal Witness, Rogue Refiner etc, and only so many slots for this kind of card. Militia Bugler doesn't strike me as particularly explosive or powerful in comparison with those alternatives, but it seems pretty good at finding combo pieces in builds with 4 Felidar + 1-2 Kiki, and silver bullets after sideboarding. While there is a failure rate and a deckbuilding cost, it has a good body (especially if you're leaning more towards a combo finish and therefore valuing defensive stats) and isn't susceptible to graveyard hate or the like. With 4 Oaths, 4 Felidars, 4 Evolutions, 1-2 Kiki and 2-3 Militia Buglers, finding a combo by turn 5-6 seems rather easy. On the other hand, Bugler won't often be involved when we combo earlier than that, and there are a number of matchups where speed is of the essence.
I'd say 10 fetches is a little on the low end for a list with 4 Cobra and 4 Rallier, and having both basic Island and basic Mountain isn't optimal with 4 Voices in the deck. If you want to be combo centric, you probably want Felidars number 3 and 4 before Thalia's Lancers deserves a spot (currently you have 2 Felidar + 4 Evo = 6 pieces for one half of the combo and 4 Saheeli + 1 Kiki + 1 Lancers + 4 Evo = 10 pieces for the other half).
Your sideboard looks decent, but you could consider a few "free win" cards like Stony Silence, Rest in Peace, Blood Moon or Worship. I very much like 2x Gaddock Teeg though, my opinion of the card is continously getting better and better, especially in the 4x Rallier versions.
That list looks a little strange to me. Phantasmal Image is powerful, but why run only 1 Rallier with it? Wouldn't it be better to run more of them, since returning Image to copy Rallier is such a nice synergy? Also, this list has 4 Saheeli, 4 Felidar, 4 Evo, 1 Kiki, so it's definitely trying to combo a lot, but how does Image support that plan? It can be a "cheap" 3/4cmc creature to enable Evolution for Kiki, but doesn't Lotus Cobra gives us even more explosiveness? I guess copying Felidar to flicker Oath allows us to chain a lot of Oath triggers together to eventually combo, but without Cobra that can take some time.
Maybe the power and utility of Image justify its lack of direct synergy with the combo core of the deck, I would have to playtest that. It can do a whole lot for just 2 mana, and scales very well into the later turns, but on the other hand it isn't always good on turn 2.
Went 3-1 at my LGS tonight, with the same 4c Cobra list I wrote about a few times, with one exception: Hallowed Fountain out for a basic Mountain. I was a lot more happy with my ability to cast Kiki jiki this way, and having only 4 shocklands (GW, UG, RG, RW) actually let me save some life on multiple occasions. Since my only blue spells are 4 Saheeli and 1 Reflector Mage, having just one blue land seems sufficient.
I played against Humans in the finals and lost, but my sideboard plan (2 Bolt, 2 Fiery Justice, 1 Qasali Ambusher, 1 Worship) seemed good. It's still not a matchup I actively want to face, but feels close to 50/50.
I agree with maniospas, tutoring for a 5-drop should not be your only plan vs Humans. While it works often, you won't always have a draw that can get a 5-drop into play quickly, and cards like Reflector Mage and Kitesail Freebooter make it harder. In addition to that, Gearhulk lets them keep a Mantis Rider in play, while Glorybringer is probably not what you want to be doing against a deck with 3-4 Phantasmal Image.
@itslightninghelixomg: 9 mana creatures plus 23 lands is a lot, you could consider going down a land to 22. I personally don't like having more than 5 shocklands in my deck, drawing multiples in the opening hand can be quite painful.
Rogue Refiner is very interesting, but I'm not sure it's actually better than Renegade Rallier. They're obviously very similar: The cmc and body are identical, the mana cost is similar with Rallier being slightly easier to accomodate, and they both generate card advantage in some form when they enter. Rallier is clearly the more swingy card, since it sometimes lacks Revolt or targets of value. Also, it can be interacted with by grave hate like Scavenging Ooze or fetchland hate like Blood Moon or Leonin Arbiter. It's floor is clearly lower than that of Rogue Refiner, which will just reliably draw a card whenever it enters the battlefield. However, when Rallier returns a land that you actually need (usually for Cobra), a valuable creature (Voice, Gaddock etc) or Oath of Nissa, it's a lot more powerful than Refiner, because in addition to the raw card advantage, you also get something else: an extra land directly into play, a creature that you don't need to pay for or the card selection from Oath. (Rallier returning Horizon Canopy is slightly worse than casting Refiner unless you have Cobra.) Another minor but valuable aspect of Rallier is that it can allow us to quickly get lots of basics into play in Blood Moon matchups.
All in all, Rallier, despite its lower floor, has a much higher ceiling in my eyes. On balance, the chance to do something unfair with it (if you play the necessary numbers of fetchlands and Cobras) seems worth more than the consistency of Refiner to me.
Magus of the Disk seems risky: If they have Reflector Mage or Dismember to answer it, you'll have trouble coming back from that tempo swing. Also, it kills your own stuff (except for Saheeli), so the opponent will get time to maybe draw some more Mantis Riders.
If you want put a high priority on beating Humans, play 2 Worship in your sideboard. I think it's by far the best card in this specific matchup (but not quite as good vs Affinity, Hollow One etc). Other than that, play cards that interact favorably with Mantis Rider. We can hold the ground most of the time and their disruption doesn't hit us all that hard, but flying beaters are very problematic.
What do you guys think is the best cheap spot removal vs Humans? It would be Path but it's such an obvious choice with Meddling Mage, I wouldn't go all in on that. Lightning Bolt? Condemn?
Can you give some concrete examples for matchups where Magus of the Moon is a creature you would tutor for? I've played the card on and off, but rarely been impressed. It requires set-up (get basic lands in play, optimally both a Forest and a Plains) and if you want to Evo it into play quickly, you will probably need to sac a mana dork, which is the exact kind of creature you actually want to have with Magus in play. At the same time, Magus dies to everything (maybe not to Fatal Push because Revolt gets harder to achieve) and makes our Cobras and Ralliers a good deal worse. It can certainly dominate games, but there are also a lot of scenarios where it underperforms, especially if the opponent is aware of the card.
Concerning Kiki: It's in the deck to allow us to use Evolution for a combo piece once we already have Felidar Guardian. Just having one Kiki to tutor for really increases our consistency at assembling a combo quickly. Cobra makes casting it a reasonable plan, but I've also had it stuck in hand more often than I'd like. As maniospas stated, you have to build and especially play with Kiki in mind. When in doubt, fetch another red land!
As for P&K vs Huntmaster: They play a similar role, and are close in power level in my opinion. P&K shines vs Affinity, whereas Huntmaster gets the nod vs Burn.
I like P&K a little better, but its mana cost is also noticably tougher. Though once you have Kiki in your deck, might as well play P&K too.
Since I'm writing about all red cards anyway, I'm currently watching the Pro Tour top 8 (Standard), and Goblin Chainwhirler is totally dominating that tournament (28 out of 32 possible copies in the top8 decks). While the mana cost seems like a huge (!) stretch, the card has potential to be great in our deck too. It's similar to Orzhov Pontiff, which has been a solid role player in Modern for years, but the body is so much better, and pinging planeswalkers can be a very useful bonus (remember the days when Saheeli did that for us?). Nevertheless, is it at all possible to make the mana work? And would the card even be worth the effort? Both seem unlikely, but what do you guys think?
Any tips/opinion on my build? would appreciate any criticism. thanks:)
Looks pretty good, but I don't like that you only have 15 green lands, counting the fetchlands. You absolutely need one in every opening hand, so you should probably have a few more (I have 19 in my list). At the same time, six shocklands are too many for my taste, I don't think you need all three blue ones. Consider cutting one or two of the non-green lands (preferably a Ghost Quarter, Plains or Hallowed Fountain) for another Forest and/or 1-2 Horizon Canopy.
Having played a few very different versions of this deck, I noticed your list has a high density of creatures that enable Evolution well between Voice, Cobra, Rallier and Finks. Why not lean into that and run the full four Evos? It will certainly help you in matchups where you just want to assemble a quick combo, and also when you need to find match-up specific silver bullets.
I was also thinking of the Bridge sideboard plan in Burn, which can be difficult to beat/race,
Actually, Reflector Mage can solve this problem. They usually have a few creatures on the board, so you can probably put a card into their hand and win via combo (unless they play around this exact scenario by keeping up removal for their own creature, which will usually be in the form of Grim Lavamancer).
Btw I agree that Glorybringer isn't really great right now, I would rank it slightly behind Kiki, Shalai, P&K, Acidic Slime and old Sigarda in the "4-5cmc utility creature" category. Between Jace, Teferi and Karn, we have a bunch of new planeswalkers in the format that the Dragon can usually not kill right away, whereas Grim Flayer, Thought-Knot Seer and Eldrazi Displacer, which are some of the sweetest creature to kill by dealing 4 damage, aren't popular right now.
@ Koopa: I've recently been running a very similar list with respect to Birds, Cobras and lands, and I've found myself with Kiki-Jiki stuck in my hand several times. When my accelerators get killed, the inability to find 3 red sources via lands really annoys me. I've come to the conclusion that I need another red land, probably a second Stomping Ground or even a basic Mountain or Steam Vents. Since you are essentially running the same deck, maybe that's a consideration for you too.
Also, your list has zero removal in the maindeck (Huntmaster doesn't really count since it only deals 2 and requires set-up). I like having at least a single copy of Reflector Mage (or something else, like Glorybringer), since that turns all the Evolutions into potential Reflector Mages, which you can then blink or copy. In the current meta, that seems like a good tool to have.
Has anyone tried beastcaller savant in place of lotus cobra?
Or Sylvan Caryatid?
Beastcaller Savant can't cast Saheeli, which is highly relevant, and a 2cmc creature that only makes 1 mana is probably not good enough for Modern anyway. Sylvan Caryatid is better, but still seems underpowered compared to 1cmc accelerators and Lotus Cobra. Hexproof is neat, but not a big deal (unless you have Worship out, then it can be quite good), and the 0/3 body isn't spectacular either.
What are your best sideboard cards against blue bolt decks (blue moon/jeskai?) I'm really having a bad time beating the deck. Tips and tricks. What to board out
Those decks are some of the hardest to sideboard against. It's not easy to swing these matchups with a handful of cards, rather you need a critical mass of cards that generate additional value, like Voice, Rallier, Tireless Tracker, Pia and Kiran, Sun Titan and Felidar blinking Oath. Try to set up a turn where you cast two of those spells to overload their countermagic. As for sideboarding, take out a few Lotus Cobras and Evolutions, both cards are very vulnerable to their interaction. If you are certain that they don't have access to Platinum Emperion or Spell Queller, taking out removal like Reflector Mage and Path to Exile is also a good idea. If you specifically want to beat UR decks, Thrun or Keranos might be good for your sideboard, but Gaddock Teeg, Selfless Spirit, Reclamation Sage and any form of countermagic are usually good too.
Went 2-2 tonight with the same list I posted before (4 Cobra, 4 Felidar, Kiki, Reveillark). My wins were not close (vs Blue Tron and Esper Control) whereas both losses (Affinity and Jund) went to 3 games and could have gone either way. Some thoughts:
Reveillark was very good tonight. I drew it twice vs Jund and it dominated the game both times. It's obviously way too slow in combo matchups, but one of the very best tools to win grindy games. If Burn isn't a factor in your meta, it's probably better than Thragtusk.
Pia and Kiran also convinced me tonight. Returning it with Reveillark felt like cheating. Multiple flying blockers (with the option to get even more if you flicker or copy it) is such a huge factor against Affinity or Humans. But, the RR cost was difficult.
Kiki-Jiki won several games, but also got stuck in my hand twice with only two fetchable red sources in my deck. I will definitely add either a second Stomping Ground or basic Mountain for next time.
@Jankoz: Dorks and Evolutions aren't great against those highly interactive decks for the reasons you described, you should trim a few when sideboarding. Try to keep Saheeli out of Bolt range if possible by using +1 unless you are confident that your -2 activation won't be disrupted by removal. Other than that, cards like Voice, Rallier, Thragtusk, Sun Titan, Reveillark, Tireless Tracker and Felidar blinking Oath should gradually generate card advantage. Lean on those cards, chaining enough of them together is your best route to victory. Moon effects and Gaddock Teeg can provide some level of disruption, but will usually not lock them out entirely.
In an unknown meta, I would probably lean toward a combo-heavy build. I have my doubts about running 0 Ralliers, since the card's synergy with Voice (and Oath, even if that comes up less often) makes me want to have access to at least one copy. Also, only 6 fetchlands in a deck with Knight otR? That doesn't seem right, you want to have a good chance to have it out of Lightning Bolt range as early as turn 2. I think 9-12 fetches is where you want to be if possible.
Went 2-2, winning against Ponza and Esper Superfriends in very convinving fashion and losing two very close matches against UB Control and Goblins. Against UB I really felt the rules change regarding damage redirection: Saheeli and Liliana were on the board for several turns together, but I couldn't stop Lili from ticking up und ultimating. Keeping planeswalkers in check used to be one of Saheeli's great strengths in matchups like this one.
I had several games where Sun Titan, Kiki-Jiki and Acidic Slime were absolutely crucial. Sun Titan somehow slipped through against UB Control and turned the game around completely by returning Saheeli, Rallier, two Oaths and dealing 6 damage to a Liliana the Last Hope with 7 loyalty. Kiki as a game-winning tutor target came up several times, and was also cast from hand as early as turn 3, always ending the game on the spot. Acidic Slime showed up just when my Esper opponent was stuck on two lands, and got to work on those.
Shalai, Reveillark and P&K never came up.
I think I like Wall of Omens over Coiling Oracle just because the mana really gets better this way, but I'll need to play more games to be sure.
On the topic of Gearhulk: It's a very solid card to beat decks with lots of creatures as well as Lantern and Bogles. However, it needs to land at the right time, otherwise it hurts us too much or them too little. It got a little worse with the rise of Hollow One (recursive creatures, Hollow One is an artifact) and the disappearance of Lantern after the recent unbannings. Against Humans, it can't answer Mantis Rider.
Do we really want Magus of the Tabernacle in a deck with 25+ creatures? We might have enough mana to pay the tax for them, sure, but how does that lead to us winning the game? We still need mana to cast more spells, and it doesn't even stop Mantis Rider, which is probably the key aggressive creature in the format right now.
Your sideboard looks decent, but you could consider a few "free win" cards like Stony Silence, Rest in Peace, Blood Moon or Worship. I very much like 2x Gaddock Teeg though, my opinion of the card is continously getting better and better, especially in the 4x Rallier versions.
Maybe the power and utility of Image justify its lack of direct synergy with the combo core of the deck, I would have to playtest that. It can do a whole lot for just 2 mana, and scales very well into the later turns, but on the other hand it isn't always good on turn 2.
I played against Humans in the finals and lost, but my sideboard plan (2 Bolt, 2 Fiery Justice, 1 Qasali Ambusher, 1 Worship) seemed good. It's still not a matchup I actively want to face, but feels close to 50/50.
@itslightninghelixomg: 9 mana creatures plus 23 lands is a lot, you could consider going down a land to 22. I personally don't like having more than 5 shocklands in my deck, drawing multiples in the opening hand can be quite painful.
Rogue Refiner is very interesting, but I'm not sure it's actually better than Renegade Rallier. They're obviously very similar: The cmc and body are identical, the mana cost is similar with Rallier being slightly easier to accomodate, and they both generate card advantage in some form when they enter. Rallier is clearly the more swingy card, since it sometimes lacks Revolt or targets of value. Also, it can be interacted with by grave hate like Scavenging Ooze or fetchland hate like Blood Moon or Leonin Arbiter. It's floor is clearly lower than that of Rogue Refiner, which will just reliably draw a card whenever it enters the battlefield. However, when Rallier returns a land that you actually need (usually for Cobra), a valuable creature (Voice, Gaddock etc) or Oath of Nissa, it's a lot more powerful than Refiner, because in addition to the raw card advantage, you also get something else: an extra land directly into play, a creature that you don't need to pay for or the card selection from Oath. (Rallier returning Horizon Canopy is slightly worse than casting Refiner unless you have Cobra.) Another minor but valuable aspect of Rallier is that it can allow us to quickly get lots of basics into play in Blood Moon matchups.
All in all, Rallier, despite its lower floor, has a much higher ceiling in my eyes. On balance, the chance to do something unfair with it (if you play the necessary numbers of fetchlands and Cobras) seems worth more than the consistency of Refiner to me.
If you want put a high priority on beating Humans, play 2 Worship in your sideboard. I think it's by far the best card in this specific matchup (but not quite as good vs Affinity, Hollow One etc). Other than that, play cards that interact favorably with Mantis Rider. We can hold the ground most of the time and their disruption doesn't hit us all that hard, but flying beaters are very problematic.
What do you guys think is the best cheap spot removal vs Humans? It would be Path but it's such an obvious choice with Meddling Mage, I wouldn't go all in on that. Lightning Bolt? Condemn?
Concerning Kiki: It's in the deck to allow us to use Evolution for a combo piece once we already have Felidar Guardian. Just having one Kiki to tutor for really increases our consistency at assembling a combo quickly. Cobra makes casting it a reasonable plan, but I've also had it stuck in hand more often than I'd like. As maniospas stated, you have to build and especially play with Kiki in mind. When in doubt, fetch another red land!
As for P&K vs Huntmaster: They play a similar role, and are close in power level in my opinion. P&K shines vs Affinity, whereas Huntmaster gets the nod vs Burn.
I like P&K a little better, but its mana cost is also noticably tougher. Though once you have Kiki in your deck, might as well play P&K too.
Since I'm writing about all red cards anyway, I'm currently watching the Pro Tour top 8 (Standard), and Goblin Chainwhirler is totally dominating that tournament (28 out of 32 possible copies in the top8 decks). While the mana cost seems like a huge (!) stretch, the card has potential to be great in our deck too. It's similar to Orzhov Pontiff, which has been a solid role player in Modern for years, but the body is so much better, and pinging planeswalkers can be a very useful bonus (remember the days when Saheeli did that for us?). Nevertheless, is it at all possible to make the mana work? And would the card even be worth the effort? Both seem unlikely, but what do you guys think?
Looks pretty good, but I don't like that you only have 15 green lands, counting the fetchlands. You absolutely need one in every opening hand, so you should probably have a few more (I have 19 in my list). At the same time, six shocklands are too many for my taste, I don't think you need all three blue ones. Consider cutting one or two of the non-green lands (preferably a Ghost Quarter, Plains or Hallowed Fountain) for another Forest and/or 1-2 Horizon Canopy.
Having played a few very different versions of this deck, I noticed your list has a high density of creatures that enable Evolution well between Voice, Cobra, Rallier and Finks. Why not lean into that and run the full four Evos? It will certainly help you in matchups where you just want to assemble a quick combo, and also when you need to find match-up specific silver bullets.
Actually, Reflector Mage can solve this problem. They usually have a few creatures on the board, so you can probably put a card into their hand and win via combo (unless they play around this exact scenario by keeping up removal for their own creature, which will usually be in the form of Grim Lavamancer).
Btw I agree that Glorybringer isn't really great right now, I would rank it slightly behind Kiki, Shalai, P&K, Acidic Slime and old Sigarda in the "4-5cmc utility creature" category. Between Jace, Teferi and Karn, we have a bunch of new planeswalkers in the format that the Dragon can usually not kill right away, whereas Grim Flayer, Thought-Knot Seer and Eldrazi Displacer, which are some of the sweetest creature to kill by dealing 4 damage, aren't popular right now.
Also, your list has zero removal in the maindeck (Huntmaster doesn't really count since it only deals 2 and requires set-up). I like having at least a single copy of Reflector Mage (or something else, like Glorybringer), since that turns all the Evolutions into potential Reflector Mages, which you can then blink or copy. In the current meta, that seems like a good tool to have.
Beastcaller Savant can't cast Saheeli, which is highly relevant, and a 2cmc creature that only makes 1 mana is probably not good enough for Modern anyway. Sylvan Caryatid is better, but still seems underpowered compared to 1cmc accelerators and Lotus Cobra. Hexproof is neat, but not a big deal (unless you have Worship out, then it can be quite good), and the 0/3 body isn't spectacular either.
Those decks are some of the hardest to sideboard against. It's not easy to swing these matchups with a handful of cards, rather you need a critical mass of cards that generate additional value, like Voice, Rallier, Tireless Tracker, Pia and Kiran, Sun Titan and Felidar blinking Oath. Try to set up a turn where you cast two of those spells to overload their countermagic. As for sideboarding, take out a few Lotus Cobras and Evolutions, both cards are very vulnerable to their interaction. If you are certain that they don't have access to Platinum Emperion or Spell Queller, taking out removal like Reflector Mage and Path to Exile is also a good idea. If you specifically want to beat UR decks, Thrun or Keranos might be good for your sideboard, but Gaddock Teeg, Selfless Spirit, Reclamation Sage and any form of countermagic are usually good too.
Reveillark was very good tonight. I drew it twice vs Jund and it dominated the game both times. It's obviously way too slow in combo matchups, but one of the very best tools to win grindy games. If Burn isn't a factor in your meta, it's probably better than Thragtusk.
Pia and Kiran also convinced me tonight. Returning it with Reveillark felt like cheating. Multiple flying blockers (with the option to get even more if you flicker or copy it) is such a huge factor against Affinity or Humans. But, the RR cost was difficult.
Kiki-Jiki won several games, but also got stuck in my hand twice with only two fetchable red sources in my deck. I will definitely add either a second Stomping Ground or basic Mountain for next time.
@Jankoz: Dorks and Evolutions aren't great against those highly interactive decks for the reasons you described, you should trim a few when sideboarding. Try to keep Saheeli out of Bolt range if possible by using +1 unless you are confident that your -2 activation won't be disrupted by removal. Other than that, cards like Voice, Rallier, Thragtusk, Sun Titan, Reveillark, Tireless Tracker and Felidar blinking Oath should gradually generate card advantage. Lean on those cards, chaining enough of them together is your best route to victory. Moon effects and Gaddock Teeg can provide some level of disruption, but will usually not lock them out entirely.
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Lotus Cobra
3x Wall of Omens
4x Renegade Rallier
1x Eternal Witness
1x Reflector Mage
4x Felidar Guardian
1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1x Acidic Slime
1x Reveillark
1x Sun Titan
Other Spells 12
4x Oath of Nissa
4x Saheeli Rai
4x Eldritch Evolution
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
2x Flooded Strand
1x Arid Mesa
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Breeding Pool
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Stomping Ground
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Temple Garden
3x Forest
1x Plains
1x Horizon Canopy
2x Gaddock Teeg
1x Selfless Spirit
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty
2x Fiery Justice
1x Stony Silence
1x Damping Matrix
2x Rest in Peace
2x Blood Moon
2x Worship
I had several games where Sun Titan, Kiki-Jiki and Acidic Slime were absolutely crucial. Sun Titan somehow slipped through against UB Control and turned the game around completely by returning Saheeli, Rallier, two Oaths and dealing 6 damage to a Liliana the Last Hope with 7 loyalty. Kiki as a game-winning tutor target came up several times, and was also cast from hand as early as turn 3, always ending the game on the spot. Acidic Slime showed up just when my Esper opponent was stuck on two lands, and got to work on those.
Shalai, Reveillark and P&K never came up.
I think I like Wall of Omens over Coiling Oracle just because the mana really gets better this way, but I'll need to play more games to be sure.
On the topic of Gearhulk: It's a very solid card to beat decks with lots of creatures as well as Lantern and Bogles. However, it needs to land at the right time, otherwise it hurts us too much or them too little. It got a little worse with the rise of Hollow One (recursive creatures, Hollow One is an artifact) and the disappearance of Lantern after the recent unbannings. Against Humans, it can't answer Mantis Rider.