Well boys, spoiler season is over, and it looks like the main reason for the M19 Spirits was to inject our deck with life! Not quite enough for Spirits in Standard.
On splashing red, I feel like a Red splash would be the hardest to pull off, and would probably have the least payoff. First off, we need double red for Eidolon...second, Eidolon doesn't fly. Feels like if we're going to splash for a third color, Bant is the way to go. And don't forget, most builds are already splashing black for lingering souls.
edit: although, splashing red in a Blood Moon heavy meta seems really strong.
I think we need to be careful and weigh the benefits of using Nebelgast Herald over Reflector Mage for the tribal synergy and instant speed alone.
I've never been a fan of using off-Tribe creatures that may have a slightly better ability than the counterpart creature in the tribe. It can be a slippery slope, ending with "why not just play the other tribe?".
I like your philosphy. I'm also a fan of the 3x Nissa, I have her in the Ponza list I've been on for a while now and she is sooo much better than she looks at face value.
I'm interested in whether you've considered Jadelight Ranger, or what your reason for excluding her was?
Seems like a decent list. Nissa can be good to great, but I'd cut her to run 1 if any, especially since you've cut half the reasons to have her in your deck (Kitchen Finks / Pia and Kiran Nalaar). What matchup are you bringing in P/K for, and what's the logic for running it in your sideboard?
I like MB Sweltering Suns, haven't seen that yet. I'd consider it if my meta was rich in hyper-aggro decks like 8whack.
Knowing nothing about your meta, I would go:
MB
-1 Nissa
+1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
-1 Forest
+1 Misty Rainforest
SB
-1 Obstinate Baloth
-1 Chandra (or the SB Pia and Kiran)
+2 Kitchen Finks
Multani, being a 6cmc card, competes with Inferno Titan. Inferno Titan has an ETB Trigger, is a mana sink, and clears the board. I would need a very convincing reason to run anything other than Wurmcoil Engine over Inferno Titan at that cmc in this deck. Multani specifically doesn't have enough synergy with our deck, doesn't have an ETB trigger, isn't harder to remove, and while it has Trample/Reach, those are mostly nice to haves stapled to an otherwise overly conditional finisher that we have a hard time setting up effectively. If only we could get a Terravore reprint...
Looking at other Blood moon decks, what is the reason that we run 4 of the card? All other Blood Moon decks currently (aside from Mono Red Prison lists) only play 3, sometimes 2.
Despite the ability to ramp into Blood Moon sooner, having other means of land disruption, and having pretty significant card advantage, why has the general consensus settled on 4 Blood Moons over, say we start with 3?
I'm specifically considering cutting a Blood Moon slot to get the 8th Rain.
My thinking is that we want T2 land disruption, but once we get the first Blood Moon down, the others can feel really bad. Sure sometimes its nice to have a second in hand against a thoughtseize, but I usually wish it was just more LD.
I get that Blood Moon is a persisting effect and the sorceries are not, but the sorceries also permanently keep the opponent behind on land, and are never a blank G1 against decks full of basics.
Anyone running maindeck Abrade(s) in place of bolt(s) to hit Aether Vials? Feels like it could be the right play to run at least one, maybe with a roast in the side to swap it with so we can hit Anglers, Tasigurs, Goyfs, and other larger creatures in non-Vial decks?
Running Arc-Slogger in a comp league right now and its doing rather well. It does some pretty serious work in the final phases of the game, clearing the way for your creatures, or just additional damage to the face. I've also noticed it has the hidden ability to dig for the bigger cards that get bottomed by BBE. Or, you know...lands...but if you've cascaded once or twice and then exiled your deck with Slogger, at least you know that the last few cards you draw will either be lands or 4-6 drops.
I'm currently running 1, as much as I like the card, 2 might be a bit too much, drawing multiples of it would feel pretty bad.
Ancient Grudge and Abrade are our best anti-Artifact sideboard cards, Ancient Grudge is especially good against BR Hollow One decks because it still works after being hit by Burning Inquiry. I'm a huge fan of Stormbreath, its also great against Humans, and its monstrous ability is especially good in Ponza, since our goal is to keep our opponent from casting their spells.
Has anyone looked at using Arc-Slogger any further? Goldfishing, it can close out the game slightly faster than Inferno Titan or the hasty dragons we use, being able to do 6-8 damage before combat, depending on how late into the game it is played (how many cards we have left in the deck). Assuming we were able to get in with a Tracker or Bloodbraid, thats pretty much GG the next turn. It sees play in Legacy Dragon Stompy alongside a few other creatures that I don't think are really a good fit for our deck, but I think Arc-Slogger has potential as an additional mode of reach with Chandra and P/K, probably as a 1-2 of.
On splashing red, I feel like a Red splash would be the hardest to pull off, and would probably have the least payoff. First off, we need double red for Eidolon...second, Eidolon doesn't fly. Feels like if we're going to splash for a third color, Bant is the way to go. And don't forget, most builds are already splashing black for lingering souls.
edit: although, splashing red in a Blood Moon heavy meta seems really strong.
I've never been a fan of using off-Tribe creatures that may have a slightly better ability than the counterpart creature in the tribe. It can be a slippery slope, ending with "why not just play the other tribe?".
CoCo+ Image actually don't work that way...you can't copy creatures that enter at the same time as Image.
I might buy/trade into Bant eventually, but for now I'm enjoying the focus of UW. Plus, its less susceptible to Blood Moon. And much cheaper lol.
Is Bant or BW considered more competitive at this point? And I assume BW = Vial / Bant = Coco still?
I like your philosphy. I'm also a fan of the 3x Nissa, I have her in the Ponza list I've been on for a while now and she is sooo much better than she looks at face value.
I'm interested in whether you've considered Jadelight Ranger, or what your reason for excluding her was?
http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/121389
I like MB Sweltering Suns, haven't seen that yet. I'd consider it if my meta was rich in hyper-aggro decks like 8whack.
Knowing nothing about your meta, I would go:
MB
-1 Nissa
+1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
-1 Forest
+1 Misty Rainforest
SB
-1 Obstinate Baloth
-1 Chandra (or the SB Pia and Kiran)
+2 Kitchen Finks
Multani, being a 6cmc card, competes with Inferno Titan. Inferno Titan has an ETB Trigger, is a mana sink, and clears the board. I would need a very convincing reason to run anything other than Wurmcoil Engine over Inferno Titan at that cmc in this deck. Multani specifically doesn't have enough synergy with our deck, doesn't have an ETB trigger, isn't harder to remove, and while it has Trample/Reach, those are mostly nice to haves stapled to an otherwise overly conditional finisher that we have a hard time setting up effectively. If only we could get a Terravore reprint...
Despite the ability to ramp into Blood Moon sooner, having other means of land disruption, and having pretty significant card advantage, why has the general consensus settled on 4 Blood Moons over, say we start with 3?
I'm specifically considering cutting a Blood Moon slot to get the 8th Rain.
My thinking is that we want T2 land disruption, but once we get the first Blood Moon down, the others can feel really bad. Sure sometimes its nice to have a second in hand against a thoughtseize, but I usually wish it was just more LD.
I get that Blood Moon is a persisting effect and the sorceries are not, but the sorceries also permanently keep the opponent behind on land, and are never a blank G1 against decks full of basics.
I'm currently running 1, as much as I like the card, 2 might be a bit too much, drawing multiples of it would feel pretty bad.
Has anyone looked at using Arc-Slogger any further? Goldfishing, it can close out the game slightly faster than Inferno Titan or the hasty dragons we use, being able to do 6-8 damage before combat, depending on how late into the game it is played (how many cards we have left in the deck). Assuming we were able to get in with a Tracker or Bloodbraid, thats pretty much GG the next turn. It sees play in Legacy Dragon Stompy alongside a few other creatures that I don't think are really a good fit for our deck, but I think Arc-Slogger has potential as an additional mode of reach with Chandra and P/K, probably as a 1-2 of.