Correct on the first question, and correct on the second statement.
That Paradox Engine’s triggered ability resolves prior to and independent of the spell that causes it to pop off is consistent with what I wrote above. That does not mean that your opponent doesn’t get a chance to respond to it. So if the scepter is gone before the Engine’s ability resolves, you’re out of luck. Your Myr will still untap and whatever spell you cast off the scepter in the first place will still resolve.
Remand is fun on a scepter and pairs nicely with an early boomerang to stall your opponent. Angel’s Grace is a crowd fave as well in Scepter decks.
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1
Won handily. Stray observations:
1) Bant is very resilient, as expected. Between the life gain of the explore package, Knight of Autumn, and deputies of detention, I didn't find it too hard to take a few rounds on the chin while I built up my board. It was easy to disrupt their plans too.
2) Hexproof is awesome (Shalai).
3) I really like Zegana in the 4 slot. Not only is she easily a cantrip w/ Explore creatures, she also can be an 8/8 finisher. At worst, you can just upgrade her for Lyra or Oozes, but she's a threat on her own.
4) This deck has real value 4 drops, might need a couple more ones I'd be willing to wood chipper to Vannifar.
Overall, really fun. I think control would still be my worst matchup, so the sideboard should reflect this (Dive downs, Carnage Tyrants, Unbreakable Formations, maybe Tithe Taker). I think mid range and aggro is a decent matchup for Bant overall.
Has anyone gone up Bant vs Phoenixes yet? It seems amusing to me to trap the lot in prison.
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Do folks generally feel Adventurous Impulse is better than Incubation // Incongruity?
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I think that's why I marginally edge towards the Bant version -- with Bugler + Incubation, you can actually focus on the combo, but it's not *inherently* necessary to win. Bugler / Incubation can easily pull up a Hydroid Krasis for the win or tempo, for instance, and the explore package can easily pull games for you on their own. But combining them should allow you to resolve Vannifar more often than not in games.
I think this is less true of Black or Red, though, and they want to go more grindy (or smashy I guess it red's case), and Vannifar is just icing on the cake. I think Rhythm of the Wild may be a bit overblown in usefulness outside of the control matchup for Red, though, and not all that reliable, because you have no way to find it in your deck.
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Standard has introduced a new (albeit probably remarkably weaker) version of Birthing Pod. Obviously this demands a way to attempt to abuse the ever loving crap out of it with as many creatures that have either ETB or dies effects as you can muster.
The fun part is it highly encourages 3-4 colours, as black, red, and white all have useful cards that can slot into the creature ramp up. The cost is having a far more awful mana base.
Deck Lists
Example of a basic Bant brew.
1x Carnage Tyrant
2x Conclave Cavalier
3x Deputy of Detention
2x Hydroid Krasis
3x Incubation Druid
2x Jadelight Ranger
1x Knight of Autumn
4x Llanowar Elves
1x Lyra Dawnbringer
3x Merfolk Branchwalker
3x Militia Bugler
4x Prime Speaker Vannifar
1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1x Trostani Discordant
4x Breeding Pool
1x Forest
3x Glacial Fortress
2x Hallowed Fountain
4x Hinterland Harbor
1x Island
4x Sunpetal Grove
4x Temple Garden
2x Dive Down
4x Incubation // Incongruity
2x Blink of an Eye
1x Deathgorge Scavenger
1x Deputy of Detention
1x Dive Down
2x Exclusion Mage
1x Knight of Autumn
1x Lumbering Battlement
2x Negate
1x Nullhide Ferox
1x Tempest Caller
1x Tithe Taker
1x Kraul Harpooner
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 District Guide
2 Midnight Reaper
1 Frilled Mystic
1 Golgari Findbroker
2 Hostage Taker
1 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
3 Prime Speaker Vannifar
2 Ravenous Chupacabra
1 Crested Herdcaller
1 Vampire Sovereign
1 Carnage Tyrant
1 Izoni, Thousand-Eyed
1 Muldrotha, the Gravetide
1 Pelakka Wurm
Spells (4)
1 Dead Weight
1 Dive Down
1 Cast Down
1 Find // Finality
4 Breeding Pool
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Forest
1 Gruul Guildgate
2 Hinterland Harbor
1 Island
1 Memorial to Folly
1 Mountain
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Detection Tower
1 Dead Weight
2 Duress
2 Cast down
1 Plague Mare
2 Ritual of Soot
2 Reclamation Sage
1 Golgari Findbroker
1 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
1 Phyrexian Scriptures
1 Muldrotha, the Gravetide
3 Prime Speaker Vannifar
3 Rhythm of the Wild
The Chain (27)
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Incubation Druid
2 Merfolk Branchwalker
1 Kraul Harpooner
1 Dire Fleet Daredevil
3 District Guide
1 Thrashing Brontodon
1 Midnight Reaper
1 Mirror Image
2 Frilled Mystic
2 Hostage Taker
1 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
3 Regisaur Alpha
1 Carnage Tyrant
1 Muldrotha, the Gravetide
2 Incubation // Incongruity
1 Find // Finality
The Lands (24)
4 Breeding Pool
3 Stomping Ground
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Hinterland Harbor
3 Rootbound Crag
2 Sulfur Falls
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Drowned Catacomb
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
4 Drover of the Mighty 1g 0.04
4 Druid of the Cowl 1g 0.20
1 Mirror Image 2u 0.04
3 Ranging Raptors 2g 0.03
1 Thrashing Brontodon 1gg 0.01
4 Cacophodon 3g 0.04
4 Forerunner of the Empire 3r 0.04
4 Prime Speaker Vannifar 2gu 47.08
1 Raging Swordtooth 3rg 0.01
1 Regisaur Alpha 3rg 0.07
2 Bellowing Aegisaur 5w 0.02
1 Silverclad Ferocidons 5rr 0.01
1 Verdant Sun's Avatar 5gg 0.01
1 Polyraptor 6gg 0.11
1 Zacama, Primal Calamity 6rgw 0.14
4 Breeding Pool 10.44
2 Forest 0.00
4 Hinterland Harbor 0.68
1 Island 0.00
1 Mountain 0.00
4 Rootbound Crag 0.36
1 Sacred Foundry 0.67
1 Steam Vents 1.89
4 Stomping Ground 7.48
1 Temple Garden 0.40
60 Cards Total
Card Choices
G/U colours only
All of these cards have ETB or dies effects in the REQUIRED blue / green colours. These vary in overall usefulness, but some are quite powerful.
Sultai
Black adds some nice recursion effects from the graveyard, ways of sealing / stealing creatures, destruction, and card draw from dying creatures.
Bant
Bant allows great disruption, ways of digging into your deck to find Vannifar with Militia Bugler, and some great finishers like Lyra.
Temur
Red adds probably the best 4 drop of the pod recursion, because Rekindling Phoenix can potentially be used multiple times.
4 Colours
Other Cards
Incubation // Incongruity
This card is incredibly useful in this deck. It allows you to dig for Vannifar or any creature you need, and mainboard removal in a pinch.
Dive Down
The goto since Ixalan to protect your creatures. Flash in a hexproof against removal.
Unbreakable Formation
Great sideboard card for G2/3 when you see they are packing sweepers. It has a nice synergy with Incubation Druid as well if you want it a counter so it can tap for 3 mana.
Hydroid Krasis
Not a Vannifar pod target at all, but with the amount of ramp and consistency in your land drops you can get with the explore package, it can be a powerful finisher that will at minimum draw you cards and gain you some life.
Rhythm of the Wild
Probably the reason to splash red. This allows you to drop Vannifar through counters *and* immediately have her alter your board for the better. You can also pump Vannifar's body up to 5 in certain situations to get yourself out of Lava Coil range.
Adventurous Impulse
A weaker version of Incubation unless you need the land drops. This is worth considering if you are going 4 colours.
Vivien Reid
I'm not sure she fits that well in the deck, but she should be easy to cast for whatever style of deck you play here, and she does fill a potential hole with her -3.
Frilled Mystic
A solid counter that gives you a body / sac target, she isn't a card you want to sac into (If only pod could be done at instant speed, this card would be INSANE). I am not sure if she makes the cut, given how hard it is to cast as well on the curve. I would love to hear if people have success with her in this deck.
Growth Spiral
Great card for ramp that's also a cantrip. I'm not sure this makes the cut in 3 colour decks, but it's worth a mention if you go 4 colours.
Strategies
The key will be to leverage the power of your low drop / ETB effects to stabilize the game until you can get your Vannifar out. We have a few ramp and search cards cards in our deck, so getting her on turn 3 is not necessarily too difficult. Once she can start recursion, tutor for any creature you need to help keep your advantage going, and push up to your biggest threats. Potentially having multiple 5/6 drop creatures happen on the same turn can be very difficult to deal with, and there are loads of answers.
This deck is especially weak against Tocatli Honor Guard. This is something that will have to have answers in Game 2/3, as it's probably not going to be in their mainboard. Thankfully, Incubation / Incongruity comes with an answer potentially baked into your mainboard.
Sideboard
I think our deck is really strong against Mono red aggro. I would be interested if U-Tempo is a tough matchup.
Otherwise, it really depends what your colours are here, but I think arguably this deck needs answers to:
1) Tocatli Honor Guard
Tocatli wrecks most versions of this decks, because they are trying to maximize the ETB cards. Temur might be okay, as its more straight up stompy, but I think it's still problematic. If you see white, you might want to make sure to have some kind of removal game 2/3 (and if Best of one, include some removal in the main deck, like Incubation). If you're splashing red, this is pretty easy with Lava Coil, Lightning Strike or Banefire.
2) Sweepers
As with most creature decks, sweepers are a huge problem. If using white, Unbreakable Formation will be a great sideboard option. Otherwise, include some counter spells in the sideboard, and try not to over commit.
3) Control.
Counterspells, Carnage Tyrant, or Rhythm of the Wild are our best answers. Vannifar sacs get around counters, but it'll be a battle to get her on the board without Rhythm on the board.
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Instant speed would be broken -- even Birthing Pod wasn't instant speed. The difference is, though, there isn't a great way to chain her sacs / go infinite, unlike in Modern.
We *do* have a couple cards that allow us to chain it twice in a turn, though. I wonder if that's worth exploring. This is just a dump, some of these are definitely not able to be in the main deck.
The best probably is Stony Strength.
High Alert, Gift of Growth, Hijack, Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage, Join Shields, Keldon Overseer, Rally to Battle, Rallying Roar, Smelt-Ward Ignus, Teferi, Timebender, Tenth District Veteran
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But I think you sort of pick your battles, here. If an ideal mana base could be figured out for a 4 splash, you could really just have your pick of the litter. Being able to tutor up any creature card if you get Vannifar online is incredibly useful.
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Seems like a fun thing to brew overall. You can actually have a giant mix of creatures -- just make sure your choices have ETB or dies effects for some extra juice, and make sure your more multiple creatures are helping the cause. I really think Militia Bugler is a huge bonus here (can filter up most of these creatures, including vannifar), although it might be good to cut down to 2-3 copies. And make sure whatever you take isn't impossible to cast.
Also feels like you could splash almost any colour for some fun effects
1x Azor, the Lawbringer
1x Carnage Tyrant
2x Deputy of Detention
1x Dream Eater
3x Growth-Chamber Guardian
2x Hydroid Krasis
4x Incubation Druid
2x Jadelight Ranger
1x Knight of Autumn
4x Llanowar Elves
1x Lyra Dawnbringer
4x Militia Bugler
4x Prime Speaker Vannifar
1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1x Trostani Discordant
4x Breeding Pool
1x Forest
3x Glacial Fortress
1x Hallowed Fountain
4x Hinterland Harbor
1x Island
4x Sunpetal Grove
4x Temple Garden
Instant (6)
2x Dive Down
4x Incubation / Incongruity
1x Deathgorge Scavenger
2x Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
1x Deputy of Detention
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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