With High Alert being spoiled in the new set, Arcades the Strategist now seems to be a feasible deck in the new set. This was recently brewed on mtggoldfish by SaffronOlive, but I thought the deck needed a bit of work.
I think Tetsuko makes this deck incredibly more powerful -- making all your defenders / walls unblockable just means as soon as he resolves, you can just smash the opponent. You can also potentially add +1/+3 to all your attackers with Rally to Battle, making for some nasty turns.
The biggest issue I see overall, though, is your deck entirely relies on having either Arcades or High Alert on the board, otherwise you literally cannot win. You need to be able to get this setup properly, or dig for these cards.
Incubation // Incongrurity seems to similarly be a nobrainer, as it allows you to dig and also give a removal option.
Incomplete, but a bit of a dump. Think this is still missing some candidate cards. Need the right mix to get setup so your walls can bash them down.
I think there are some good upgrades in the new set already for this deck, yeah. Incubation for the tutor alone is probably worth it (although if you add a couple dual lands, the pongify is a nice option to give you just a hair more flexibility). I think this deck will see a boost, but it'll depend on how the meta evolves as well.
The mana base needs reworking if you want to run Steel-Leaf Champion and double-mana green creatures. If the goal is to runSarkhan's Unsealing then we need to get the mana base correct.
As you can see even in a 3 color deck we only have 17 green sources which isn't enough to support SLC. You would need to do additional mana fixing with District Guide / Gift of paradise. Not only that SLC forces you to be almost monogreen
That's reasonable. I was running 2 Drover's to help mana fix, but arguably two slow land is roughly equivalent for mana without being vulnerable to board wipes (although an up to 3/3 body is sometimes nice). I think swapped the 2 drovers for 2 R/G slow land is a more optimal switch.
Steel Leaf is definitely hard to not run. The early game for this deck seems to me to be the more interesting way to optimize (once you hit 4 mana, you just start slotting up 4+ power creatures that give other utility).
I think I can justify it overall though, as I'm really only splashing red for Sarks (as most Green creatures are just more efficient for it than most red things I could pull out).
play good creatures that can win the game without unsealing because many games you will never find one. You don’t need to wrath the board everytime you play a creature. The flexibility of unsealing Is the reason you are playing it. Shooting things for 4 and then playing a good creature is more than enough value.
My creature list for RG Dino’s with unsealing is
4 drover of the mighty
4 thrashing brontodon
4 Ripjaw raptor
4 Regisaur alpha
4 carnage tyrant
I am only running 12 creature to set unsealing off and that has been more than I have ever needed. Of those 12 only 4 wrath the board. So you don’t need to go all out on the big creature plan. Play a good deck that does good things on its own and then add unsealing in to make it even better.
Yeah, I totally agree. I was humming and hawing about this deck in general, as although you can definitely *really* lean into Sarkhan's, I simply will have many games without seeing one even with 4 of. I feel like the successful Sark's deck will be a stompy that uses it as an alt win cond (4 damage just for *casting* a creature is ridiculous, and you get it even if it's countered, you potentially get a board wipe).
Couldn't you add lands like Detection Tower to help against Green Stompy? Although this is a bad matchup, it seems like a *common* matchup, given how this is probably gonna be a killer deck out of the gate.
Yeah, you have a fair point. I laid a wide field partially due to give myself some flexibility, but it has some consistency issues.
I think there are multiple variants to the Izzet strategy as you laid out, just a matter of which flavour I enjoy the most. Largely, it seems to overlap on spells but just what you creatures you wanna lay down changes.
I agree with you on Guttersnipe being an option. I think going full cantrip *might* work, but I dunno, I think taking the best draw spells + normal burn might be better.
Interesting. So you're suggestion would be to 100% lean into the 7+ power thing (while I've generally opted for a mix of 4-7+). This deck definitely hybrids stompy with Sarkhan's for an alternate win cond so far.
It would be interested, as there are cards like Traxos, Scourge of Kroog who is pretty trash in my deck sans Sarkhans (due to my general lack of historic spells), but with it out, it turns into a 4 cost wipe, or a 2 cost wipe w/ Goreclaw on the field. I could also max out Inferno Hellion who is included specifically for the 7 power thing.
It wouldn't necessarily be detrimental to cap out creatures like Ghalta, Primal Hunger as well, because I could cast him for pretty cheap. Goreclaw alone would reduce his mana cost to 4GG.
Would you think I'd keep the same general early game of mana dorks, or what else would you add if I went that route in terms of spells?
Initially inspired when I saw Goreclaw and Sarkhan's Unsealing released in M19, saw a potentially fun deck combo. When I started brewing, though, it felt kind of boring to play a straight up G/R.
After Ravnica was spoiled, though, and I saw how they were pushing Golgari, I felt way more inspired to put this deck together. It's primarily green with a splash of black and red. It felt like I could more greatly interact with my opponent instead of just casting stompy until I win or get beaten back with. Assassin's Trophy gives loads of ways of messing with decks, as well as Abnormal Endurance for a surprise revival.
I feel like Nullhide Ferox might be a bit inappropriate here (at least maybe not a copy of 4), due to my having loads of non-creature spells, but it seems like a creature too good to pass up in some #.
More copies of Beast whisperer may be better than Colossal Majesty, and possibly more copies of Thrashing Brontodon.
Sidedeck remains unbuilt.
I'd appreciate any thoughts / ideas to improve this would be greatly appreciated!
General idea is to leverage a lot of the new spells in Guilds of Ravnica with Izzet.
Win conds: control the early game with unsummons and pings, gradually start beating them down and get my drakes stronger and stronger. River's rebuke will leave them totally exposed, and setting up Ral's emblem.
Niv is more included for fun than highly competitive play. I'm unsure of what exactly I should sideboard here too, seems to be really important depending on the matchup.
Hmmm, so if that's correct, that wouldn't necessarily be an issue (as I have loads of instants). But basically, the spelling isn't on the stack yet once I tap the sceptre?
Sceptre: "You cast the copy while the ability is resolving and still on the stack."
Engine: "Paradox Engine’s triggered ability resolves before the spell that caused it to trigger. The ability will resolve even if that spell is countered."
There are a couple spells that can prevent new spells from entering the stack.
But since I *cast* the spell off isochron scepter I believe I would untap the thing before passing priority. Even if they removed the engine or sceptre, I could just cast another spell off the sceptre in response and keep it going. By the time their spell resolves, I've done as much damage as I want to.
General idea: I love Paradox engine a lot and would love to see it combined with the insanity of Isochron sceptre. Can win without the combo getting off with guttersnipe + the damage spells, but enjoyable that I could boomerang an opponents entire fields back to their hand. Once the combo starts, can't be interrupted (as I can just keep casting the sceptre over and over again).
Main concerns: seems like the land has to be carefully chosen, as there are so many gold cards in the deck. I can see myself getting easily mana screwed.
Any general suggestions to improve the deck would be appreciated, too.
I think Tetsuko makes this deck incredibly more powerful -- making all your defenders / walls unblockable just means as soon as he resolves, you can just smash the opponent. You can also potentially add +1/+3 to all your attackers with Rally to Battle, making for some nasty turns.
The biggest issue I see overall, though, is your deck entirely relies on having either Arcades or High Alert on the board, otherwise you literally cannot win. You need to be able to get this setup properly, or dig for these cards.
Incubation // Incongrurity seems to similarly be a nobrainer, as it allows you to dig and also give a removal option.
Incomplete, but a bit of a dump. Think this is still missing some candidate cards. Need the right mix to get setup so your walls can bash them down.
4x Arcades, the Strategist
3x Gleaming Barrier
4x Portcullis Vine
3x Resolute Watchdog
3x Wall of Mist
3x Wall of Vines
4x Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
# Enchantments
4x Conclave Tribunal
4x High Alert
4x Breeding Pool
2x Glacial Fortress
4x Hallowed Fountain
3x Hinterland Harbor
1x Island
1x Plains
3x Sunpetal Grove
4x Temple Garden
# Sorceries & Instants
2x Dive Down
2x Slaughter the Strong
2x Incubation // Incongrurity
1x Rally to Battle
1x Cavalcade of Calamity
1x Unbreakable Formation
1x Elite Arrester
1x Aegis of the Heavens
1x Amaranthine Wall
1x Looming Altisaur
1x Surge Mare
That's reasonable. I was running 2 Drover's to help mana fix, but arguably two slow land is roughly equivalent for mana without being vulnerable to board wipes (although an up to 3/3 body is sometimes nice). I think swapped the 2 drovers for 2 R/G slow land is a more optimal switch.
Steel Leaf is definitely hard to not run. The early game for this deck seems to me to be the more interesting way to optimize (once you hit 4 mana, you just start slotting up 4+ power creatures that give other utility).
I think I can justify it overall though, as I'm really only splashing red for Sarks (as most Green creatures are just more efficient for it than most red things I could pull out).
Yeah, I totally agree. I was humming and hawing about this deck in general, as although you can definitely *really* lean into Sarkhan's, I simply will have many games without seeing one even with 4 of. I feel like the successful Sark's deck will be a stompy that uses it as an alt win cond (4 damage just for *casting* a creature is ridiculous, and you get it even if it's countered, you potentially get a board wipe).
2 Beast Whisperer
4 Carnage Tyrant
2 Drover of the Mighty
1 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
3 Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
1 Inferno Hellion
3 Jadelight Ranger
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Steel Leaf Champion
3 Thrashing Brontodon
3 Vine Mare
11x Forest
1x Memorial to Unity
4x Mountain
4x Rootbound Crag
4x Sarkhan's Unsealing
Instant (3)
1x Lightning Strike
2x Verdant Rebirth
2x Lava Coil
1x Maximize Velocity
I think there are multiple variants to the Izzet strategy as you laid out, just a matter of which flavour I enjoy the most. Largely, it seems to overlap on spells but just what you creatures you wanna lay down changes.
I agree with you on Guttersnipe being an option. I think going full cantrip *might* work, but I dunno, I think taking the best draw spells + normal burn might be better.
2x Banefire
4x Blink of an Eye
4x Discovery / Dispersal
2x Ionize
2x Lava Coil
4x Lightning Strike
4x Opt
4x Risk Factor
4x Shock
2 Crackling Drake
3 Electrostatic Field
2 Goblin Electromancer
3 Guttersnipe
Lands
3 Island
7 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Izzet Guildgate
2 Chemister's Insight
1 Electrostatic Field
2 Goblin Electromancer
1 Guttersnipe
2 Ionize
2 Negate
1 Detection Tower
2 Beast Whisperer
4 Carnage Tyrant
2 Drover of the Mighty
4 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
4 Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
4 Inferno Hellion
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
2 Yargle, Glutton of Urborg
3 Forest
1 Memorial to Folly
1 Memorial to Unity
3 Mountain
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Assassin's Trophy
2 Maximize Velocity
Enchantments (4)
4 Sarkhan's Unsealing
I don't think it fully works, as you'd need something to fill the 3 slot, but it would be nasty if you started to get these spells off.
It would be interested, as there are cards like Traxos, Scourge of Kroog who is pretty trash in my deck sans Sarkhans (due to my general lack of historic spells), but with it out, it turns into a 4 cost wipe, or a 2 cost wipe w/ Goreclaw on the field. I could also max out Inferno Hellion who is included specifically for the 7 power thing.
Funnily enough, frog man has a use here too... Yargle, Glutton of Urborg
It wouldn't necessarily be detrimental to cap out creatures like Ghalta, Primal Hunger as well, because I could cast him for pretty cheap. Goreclaw alone would reduce his mana cost to 4GG.
Would you think I'd keep the same general early game of mana dorks, or what else would you add if I went that route in terms of spells?
After Ravnica was spoiled, though, and I saw how they were pushing Golgari, I felt way more inspired to put this deck together. It's primarily green with a splash of black and red. It felt like I could more greatly interact with my opponent instead of just casting stompy until I win or get beaten back with. Assassin's Trophy gives loads of ways of messing with decks, as well as Abnormal Endurance for a surprise revival.
I feel like Nullhide Ferox might be a bit inappropriate here (at least maybe not a copy of 4), due to my having loads of non-creature spells, but it seems like a creature too good to pass up in some #.
More copies of Beast whisperer may be better than Colossal Majesty, and possibly more copies of Thrashing Brontodon.
Sidedeck remains unbuilt.
I'd appreciate any thoughts / ideas to improve this would be greatly appreciated!
1 Beast Whisperer
2 Carnage Tyrant
3 Drover of the Mighty
1 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
4 Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
2 Inferno Hellion
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Nullhide Ferox
4 Steel Leaf Champion
1 Thrashing Brontodon
1 Torch Courier
2 Vine Mare
3x Forest
1x Memorial to Folly
1x Memorial to Unity
3x Mountain
4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Rootbound Crag
4x Woodland Cemetery
Instants & Sorceries (8)
2 Abnormal Endurance
4 Assassin's Trophy
1 Maximize Velocity
1 Status / Statue
1 Colossal Majesty
2 Sarkhan's Unsealing
Win conds: control the early game with unsummons and pings, gradually start beating them down and get my drakes stronger and stronger. River's rebuke will leave them totally exposed, and setting up Ral's emblem.
Niv is more included for fun than highly competitive play. I'm unsure of what exactly I should sideboard here too, seems to be really important depending on the matchup.
2 Crackling Drake
2 Electrostatic Field
2 Enigma Drake
2 Goblin Electromancer
2 Guttersnipe
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
3 Siren Stormtamer
1 Search for Azcanta
# Instants & Sorceries
1 Banefire
4 Blink of an Eye
2 Chart a Course
2 Chemister's Insight
3 Ionize
2 Lava Coil
3 Lightning Strike
3 Risk Factor
1 River's Rebuke
1 Detection Tower
7 Island
7 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
# Planeswalkers
1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
Sceptre: "You cast the copy while the ability is resolving and still on the stack."
Engine: "Paradox Engine’s triggered ability resolves before the spell that caused it to trigger. The ability will resolve even if that spell is countered."
But since I *cast* the spell off isochron scepter I believe I would untap the thing before passing priority. Even if they removed the engine or sceptre, I could just cast another spell off the sceptre in response and keep it going. By the time their spell resolves, I've done as much damage as I want to.
Main concerns: seems like the land has to be carefully chosen, as there are so many gold cards in the deck. I can see myself getting easily mana screwed.
Any general suggestions to improve the deck would be appreciated, too.
3 Boomerang
3 Boros Charm
3 Izzet Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
3 Muddle the Mixture
Sorceries
3 Fabricate
4 Serum Visions
4 Isochron Scepter
3 Paradox Engine
Creatures
3 Guttersnipe
3 Palladium Myr
Lands
3 Cascade Bluffs
3 Flooded Strand
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Island
2 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Rugged Prairie
1 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls