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Necr0maNc3R posted a message on Japanese Alternate art planeswalkersThe alternate art won’t just be for the first printing, right? If it isn’t, I’ll just wait for the cost of the packs to go down after more have been opened.Posted in: The Rumor Mill -
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Ryperior74 posted a message on Modern Horizon will have 2 Planeswalkers in total, and the other one is a new characterThere’s another thingPosted in: The Rumor Mill
We will see characters from the “you know who” article of the question of “most wanted for a card” but maybe not as many as we think here
https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/184748281638/with-the-advent-of-products-like-modern-horizons
We are more likely to see repaired version of previous legends that were stinky in gameplay
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theMarc posted a message on Evolution sage twitch previewDammit, how am I supposed to fit all these awesome proliferate things in my Atraxa EDH? What am I supposed to cut, huh?Posted in: The Rumor Mill -
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EstravenEternal posted a message on Sorin and Nahiri cardsI have very strong opinions on the Nahiri story line.Posted in: The Rumor Mill
First, although she was moved by vengeance I do not consider villainous to lure Emrakul to Innistrad: When Emrakul was set free she left the plane, where was she before she arrived to Innistrad? ravaging another plane. So the question is why should another plane, full of innocent people suffer first? if you know you cant't deal with an interplanar threat, at least you can save innocent planes, by sending it to wicked places. And Innistrad is a ver dark plane, so dark that even the trees murder. So dark that humans should have gone extinct were it not for Avacyn.
Responsibilities: I blame Sorin for leaving the multiverse in danger. Bolas would not have been able to unlock them with Nahiri protecting them. By trapping her and not caring to defeat those that tried to unlock the titans, he doomed the plane and set in risk many more, a much bigger plane than Innistrad. Millions died because of his actions. But did he care? no, because he knew his plane was protected.
On the personal feud: Nahiri never hated him, she went searching for him because she felt maybe he was in danger. When he told her he never bothered to care, it was not only a petty thing, but a betrayal to their friendship. He also said he could have murdered her right away when they met the first time, but he spared her, as if she owed her life to him, would any sane person say that to a friend? to any person? he is so selfish and narcissistic.
Finally on the player base reception: I see a lot of misogynyst subtext here, if you check out most of the social media reactions to her story, you find over and over the same kind of sexist narrative ''she is a *****'', ''she is just a pissed ex girl friend'', '' she is the epitome of crazy *****'' etc. I am just quoting the stuff I have read in reddit, mythic spoiler,etc. The thing is that they are more willing to forgive him just because he has this cool '' I do what I please'' vibe, if roles were reversed they would still support him, because a male vampire is more relatable than an angry woman. Even if morally she has better arguments and justifications.
Anyways I hope the character evolves in a sensible way, I expect her to be reasonable once she finds out Bolas released the titans, that Ugin was killed, and that the gatewatch saved the plane.
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MarcWizard posted a message on BW Tokenstop 8'ed at Agorahobby's Modern Open Championship today with 23 players.Posted in: Midrange
Here's the list I registered:
DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards Combo (7)
4 Indomitable Creativity
1 Emrakul, the Aeons torn
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
Tokens (12)
2 Legion's Landing
2 Bitterblossom
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Lingering Souls
Interaction (13)
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Fatal Push
1 Path to ExileOther spells (5)
4 Faithless Looting
1 Intangible Virtue
Real Estate (23)
4 Arid Mesa
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Sacred Foundry
2 Blood Crypt
1 Dragonskull Summit
2 Inspiring Vantage
2 Rugged Prairie
1 Graven Cairns
2 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 PlainsSideboard (15)
3 Stony Silence
3 Alpine Moon
3 Wheel of Sun and Moon
2 Lightning Helix
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
2 Wear // Tear
1 Timely Reinforcements
Match 1: BYE
Match 2: Mono Red Prison LOSS 1-2
I took game 1 handily with an iona on red despite his chalice on 1 and blood moon. Not being able to make extra tokens beyond my bitterblossom was depressing, but fortunately I drew the creativity I needed to go for 1.
In: Wear // Tear x 2, Lightning Helix x 2, Out: Fatal Push x3, Path x1
Game 2 went smoothly at first with my wear//tear hitting his moon and chalices, but I get overrun by Rabblemasters.
Game 3 went almost exactly the same, except I was held back from winning by a pesky ratchet bomb. I made a huge mistake picking Chalice over Ratchet.
Match 3: Grixis Shadow WIN 2-0
Shadow wants to win with 1-2 big fatties, while I'm playing tokens. It's quite an easy match up here. A couple of my spells get snagged by stubborn denials, but overall he doesn't have the mana to disrupt me and look out for my combo while staying alive. Iona comes out both games on turn 4, blocking black, and both games he has no outs.
No cards were sideboarded.
Match 4: Bant Nexus
Game 1 I mull to 4 and he eventually gets teferi and jace on the board while I have no real traction. Intangible gets cryptic'ed and one of my 2 soldier tokens get bounced. Then teferi and friend make their appearance. I'm not fond of what happens at this point so I just scoop.
In: Lightning Helix x 2, Alpine Moon x 2 ; Out: Fatal Push x 3, Path to Exile x 1
Game 2 I move like clockwork, going disruption into bitterblossom into lingering souls and then just more token makers. He's not drawing enough mana and apart from tapping out my team a couple of times, doesn't do enough to stabilize. After the second tap-out with cryptic I go for 1 and get Iona, and name white. He takes 1 more draw step then scoops.
Game 3 The opponent is stuck on 2 lands for too long while I get ahead with my tokens and go for 2 on turn 4 forgetting I have an iona in my hand. Nonetheless he has no outs for Emrakul and I'm now at 9 points, seeded 6th.
Match 5: U Tron ID
We've got enough points to ID into top 8 so off we go!
The top 8 players decide to split prizes, so that's the end of the report. not as much exposure or playtime as I'd have liked, but I think the current iteration has the early disruption that it needed. This list takes more traditional decisions in terms of cards, only straying from the BW Tokens list in terms of the combo at the top of the curve. -
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Ym1r posted a message on Do you enjoy modern right now?This thread was not made to be another "state of modern" thread focusing on ban discussions.Posted in: Modern
This is supposed to be a poll thread to map whether people enjoy the Phoenix Era of Modern, because there was a lot of discussion on the other thread about the existence of silent groups and/or majorities.
People who vote have the opportunity to also state why they do/don't enjoy the current metagame, and that's about it I think (although of course I am not a mod, but I made the thread).
The mods locked the other thread, and I believe for good reason, so let's not just try to take over other threads for the sake of a beaten to death discussion.
I think this thread and the poll has shown that claiming that there are silent groups that don't discuss because they like/don't like modern and thus they are too focused playing it or too disheartened to talk about it is a bit of an invalid argument, since they exist in both camps.
The poll has also shown that, at least for people interested enough to view (not necessarily post) in the forum, a good majority enjoys the format or would play it anyway.
At the same time only a very small % refuses to play the format, and as such the argument that this metagame drives people away is a bit moot at this point. However, it needs to taken into account that almost a third don't enjoy the format. -
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Card Slinger J posted a message on No More MSRPPosted in: The Rumor Mill
It's not that they're fickle and lazy when it's their family / jobs that keep them away from playing during the weekdays since they need a disposable income to spend for their gaming hobby which is why the weekends are normally ideal for them to enjoy their hobby. Online orders have sped up waiting periods of completing decks to the point where it's almost had a negative effect on the Local Game Store. It's usually either because their local distributor doesn't carry specific products that they're wanting, lack of specific card singles available, or there's nobody within the vicinity to trade specific cards with.Quote from Neuroticneurok »The problem is that American consumers are quite fickle and lazy.
Having sanctioned events being spread out onto different Local Game Stores does have a tendency to be harmful for their business especially If they aren't getting enough customers in due to competitive pricing which is really just an excuse to undercut consumers. MSRP was really the one thing keeping this type of bad business practice in check. Why leave MSRP the way it was when you could get rid of it by pitting Local Game Stores against each other and sell direct to consumers through a new website that isn't susceptible towards online traffic? Because who cares If no one has a place to play Paper Magic right?
So why create an incentive in the hopes that consumers are gullible enough to completely abandon Paper Magic for Arena when that defeats the whole purpose of opening a new website to sell Paper Magic directly to consumers? If they don't have a place to play then what would be the point of purchasing Paper Magic directly from Wizards of the Coast online If they can't even use the physical cards on Arena? Maybe If there was some sort of physical booster pack redemption on Arena.
It's this fear that If they don't get caught up with the latest trends that they'll end up getting left behind and become less profitable long term when they need to focus more on what made them successful in the past while still being able to appeal toward a wide audience. If gaming companies had better PR with their customers and clientele then we wouldn't be having this problem. However they choose not to because the cost of the industry itself has made it more difficult for them to take as many risks as they did decades ago where it's not as much of a burden with Tabletop Games.Quote from Neuroticneurok »Why is it always this all or nothing approach in gaming business? Either you're making billions or it's just not worth it to bother? What happened to being proud of modest successes and stability?
That's what makes this whole e-Sports craze with Tabletop Games so perplexing because all they're trying to do is take away the experience of what makes the genre what it is when they don't even know how to properly advertise it as such. Perhaps they see this as their only out in fear that this current generation of kids and young teenagers are too asocial to socialize with others outside of a digital space. When it comes to Video Games like Fortnite and Overwatch, e-Sports make sense but for Tabletop Games like Magic: The Gathering? Wouldn't live stream matches with commentaries be better anyway? -
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rcwraspy posted a message on Single copies in the Sideboard, does it really matters?A great deck building technique which is not talked about very often is the "Elephant" technique. That is a method where you conceive of the best deck build for your particular deck for each matchup and then whittle it down to a full 75. A quick Google search brings up this article from 2013, and I'm sure there are others: http://www.starcitygames.com/article/26317_The-Elephant-Method-A-Case-Study.html.Posted in: Modern
If you use this method you will often end up with multiple 1-of cards in your SB, because your MD is reconfigured on a card by card basis per matchup. -
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AvalonAurora posted a message on Single copies in the Sideboard, does it really matters?It was touched on in the post about the multiple individual different sweepers in an earlier post, but it is often the case that you might want multiple slightly different sideboard cards that all do similar things in certain matchups. Besides avoiding surgicals, some of them might be useful in some matchups but not in others, while others might be more better generally but useless in a few key matchups where that kind of effect is still useful, just because of the specific cards they are up against having defenses against that sort of thing or whatnot. Some of these could also be sideboard cards against other decks but less optimal or useless in some of the matchups that the kind of card is typically there for.Posted in: Modern
For instance, an anti-artifact section of a sideboard set of slots could have a mix of one copy each of Fragmentize, Kataki, War's Wage, Revoke Existence, and Stony Silence. Not all will be slotted in against the same decks or cards you might be facing, they all play slightly different roles and are good against slightly different decks, and not all might be sideboarded in against every deck with artifacts of note, but some might also be slotted in against non-artifact decks because, say, they are good against the enchantments in it for fragmentize and revoke, or because you are countering expected opponent sideboard cards that are typically artifacts against your deck.
Another example is someone might play their Relic of Progenitus from the sideboard out of a bunch of anti-graveyard cards of different sorts (perhaps including surgical extraction and Leyline of the Void), not because of hating on a graveyard, but because of it's card draw, against some deck that makes you want to do more card draw enough to use it in some fringe situations.
To that end, where it fits your deck, I'd see single copies of most of your sideboard cards being beneficial, even if you have multiple cards against a type of strategy you might be facing. This is less of a good plan if you really know the metagame you are facing and it's not very diverse, but in a highly diverse metagame, it might be a good idea. -
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rcwraspy posted a message on Single copies in the Sideboard, does it really matters?In addition to what the above posters said, it is often done to make card by card upgrades to your main deck for a specific matchup. Let's say that you have 1 card in your main deck that is truly horrible in the matchup you're currently facing. If you have 1 card in your sideboard that is great in that matchup, that is a swap which you will always want to make. True, you may not draw it. But if you do, it's much better than if you drew the card that it replaced.Posted in: Modern - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
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(A little background about me: I am a returning player, my last big tournament was 14 years ago in a PTQ for kamigawa standard, at the time I also played Tinker and Oath/Morphling in extended, I started playing around Nemesis. I have been playing modern since november of last year, first with White weenie and 3 weeks with BW tokens)
4 Auriok Champion
Enchantment
2 Bitterblossom
2 Legion's Landing
4 Intangible Virtue
Instant
2 Secure the Wastes
3 Fatal Push
3 Path to Exile
Sorcery
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
4 Spectral Procession
2 Duress
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Land
2 Shambling Vent
3 Concealed Courtyard
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Isolated Chapel
10 Plains
1 Swamp
4 Godless Shrine
2 Rest in Peace
1 Stony Silence
2 Damping Matrix
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Disenchant
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Lost Legacy
1 Duress
1 Kaya's Wrath
1 Settle the Wreckage
Here the tournament report:
Match 1 vs Jeskai Control, 2-1
First game I start quite aggressive with turn 2 virtue-Spectral procession and 4th turn Sorin and he struggles to stabilize, doesn't found terminus and I win.
Second game turns long and he gets a Lyra, comeback seems far so I concede.
Third game, very similar to game one, but I draw my discard spells and he can't find more answers.
Match 2 vs dredge, 2-0
With this list this match up really feels totally one sided for BW Tokens, an early Auriok champion (and another one 3 turns later) makes racing us very very hard for dredge, it takes a while to be able to go on the offensive but you eventually draw a Sorin and turn the tide, he got all his creatures out, he brought me down to 13, but I went up to 61 with Sorin and Intangible Virtue on the board. Both games were quite similar, and in the second one I didn't even see my SB.
Match 3 vs GR Eldrazi (not tron): 2-1
So this a Rogue deck or at least I was not aware, a ramp deck with mana dorks that deploys different Eldrazis and other creatures like Bloodbraid Elf and Hazoreth.
This games had a lot of combat, I just exchanged my creatures for his until I had an intangible virtue out and could go on the offensive with the flying tokens.
In the second game he boards in Basilisk Collar and the games go quite long with big life swing, but eventually the card advantage produced by the tokens is too much. A couple of times in this games Secure the Wastes totally surprised him when he thought I didn't have enough blockers making trades quite favorable to me.
Match 4 vs Rock: 2-1
First game his spot removal can't keep up with the tokens, I rapidly ooverrun him with fliers.
Game 2 he boards in 2 maelstrom pulse, damnation, Languish and Liliana, The last Hope. I start quite aggressive and even after all the sweepers I manage to being him to 1 life, but he is able to stabilize and I mana flood, a Tireless Tracker allows him to refill his hand all game long and I didn't draw removal for it, it goes up to 13/13 and kills me.
Third game is close, I start again with an aggressive offensive, he sweeps the board a couple of times but Adanto, The first Fort and Bitterblossom allow me rebuild fast.
Match 5 vs Whir of Invention/Tezzerator: 2-1
The first game he starts quite fast and strong deploying a Chalice of the void for 1 on first turn, he knows I have discard spells but I didn't draw them. I deploy quite a few spirits, Sorin and when he is at 5 he finds an ensnaring bridge, then Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas and I concede.
Game 2, My opening hand has 2 disenchants and even if it lacks discard I keep it, the game starts similar but instead of Chalice he gets 2 Engineered Explosives on the board, then he makes quite a big mistake tapping out to play Tezzeret, agent of bolas (I guess he wanted to find the bridge fast) and on my turn I am able to cast stony silence making those EE useless. I put in some beats and kill tezzeret, he eventually finds 2 ensnaring bridge but my disenchant's are ready to blow them.
Game 3, Both of us mulligan to 5 since I didn't get SB cards, I open with Inquisition of Kozilek and duress turn one and two to get rid of Whir and tezzeret, he plays a chalice for 2 on turn 3, so I pray to the gods of Magic he doesn't find the bridge, they hear me and I am able to overrun him, I did make a big mistake, he drew and played another Tezzeret, on my turn I was aware I didn't have lethal damage but didn't kill the planeswalker with only two loyalty points, so I gave him one more chance to find bridge, fortunately he didn't. I had lot of luck this game and felt quite hopeless in game 2 at some point.
While my opponent was a nice guy but he was a bit cocky when I asked if I could cast Lingering souls flashback with his Chalice in the board for 2, I had to call the judge to have a definitive answer.
Match 5, vs Jeskai control, 1-1
I start quite strong with discard followed with BB on turn 2, then sorin and beats start to get in, in turn 6 I have 6 tokens with Virtue and Sorin out and he is on 12, he also has a teferi on board, I make the mistake to divide attackers and send 2 to Teferi and 4 to face thinking that in the worst case he would loose Teferi and will go down to 3 life, but he casts double Lighting Helix and is able to save him self and teferi. The games goes quite long after than. Another mistake I made is that I forgot to flip Legion's Landing for 3 turns, even with that error I get him down to two, but in the meanwhile he cast a Jace, The mind sculptor and is able to respond to all my threats, he gets teferi emblem and I concede. This game took 40 minutes.
In game two I open up with turn 1 IoK, turn 2 Duress getting a counter and a terminus and turn 3 Lost legacy for snapcaster mage, I also cast Rest in Peace, he runs out of answers and a Secure the wastes for 5 followed by Sorin gets me the game. there are only 4 minutes left to finish the round so we draw.
Obviously I am very happy with the deck performance and I had lot of luck avoiding MU vs Tron (there were two players with it, one blue and one green) and nobody played combo decks so I had quite a favorable meta but even then the deck surprised me with its stellar performance.
MVP's:
Cards I am not sure about/under performed
Legion's landing I don't think I flip it once before turn 4, it provided valuable blockers and life gain to grind out games and force them to use their land destruction on Adanto leaving Shambling vents free to beat and block for several turns. But maybe Hidden stockpile is just better since the mana investment and conditions are way lower in the long term and it also provides card filtering which the decks really needs.
Gideon, ally of zendikar , he didn't have a big impact as Sorin, he sure drew the attention of opponents making them took quite inefficient decisions with their removal. But most of the time you make a token and it dies.
Zealous Persecution, I had it on hand from the SB in a few games but it wasn't that back breaking, maybe I need more testing with it but I feel there could be something better for my worst match ups.
Some cards I wished I had:
Anguished unmaking After the Chalice of the void for 2 I felt really bad I didn't got this card, even as one to have an out, it also would come useful to get rid of planeswalkers vs Jeskai.
Cleansing Nova this is a card I had in my SB when I arrived at the tournament but I finally left it out in favor of lost legacy which I bought from a dealer at the place, I definetely going to bring it to the SB instead of Kaya's wrath or a disenchant to have a versatile answer.
Last thoughts:
All games went long, quite long so I am really considering to exchange Gideon for either Sword of fire and Ice or Elspeth, Sun's champion, I now both could hurt me in more fast MU but I honestly feel I need a big thing that seals the deal vs Jeskai or that can turn things around in a big way.
Anyway, thank for reading and hope you find it useful.
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Arena had a hard start unlike other CCG because it went live with 5!!! sets, so for many the initial start was rough. I spent 150 USD, played a hell lot of sealed events and along with the gold, drafts and what not I had ALL tier 1 decks in week 2 after open beta started. For Allegiance I spent 50 USD for drafting and already have 5, or even more, decks.
SO I think going forward 50 USD per set is going to be enough, specially if you extend that value with good sealed runs and later with drafts.
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One thing I hate about paper is not finding people to play with at my LGS when I have free time, and some times we don't reach 8 players to play modern.
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I think I will be spending around 50 USD each new expansion to play sealed (I got more than double the value each expansion GRN and RNA).
Once you have a good deck you can farm events, traditional constructed has a good payout structure. SO there are various ways to maxmize the gold they give you and build a collection fast.
And yes, when old expansions are incorporated people might have to invest a bit to get that many cards, but WotC has to make money.
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In case you didn't know you have to make a post with your name in a dedicated topic about account migration.
As for the 4 drop on the deck, I also tested Hero of bladehold and while it is very powerful if you get to untap and by that point of the game it is hard for them to get rid of (bolt doesn't kill it and they probably already used some removal) it is still a whole turn to come "online".
The options I am testing and playing in that slot are: Elspeth, Knight-errant and Gideon, Ally of zendikar, and I am liking elspeth more, both can impact the board immediately, both pumping your creatures or creating a creature, but if I want to get through with the last points of damage Elspeth is better because of the evasion and it tick up, gideon dies in that moment if you ulti,
As for my FNM, I played this deck:
1 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
1 Student of Warfare
4 Champion of the Parish
3 Thraben Inspector
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
2 Auriok Champion
2 Mirran Crusader
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
3 Benalish Marshal
1 Militia Bugler
2 Honor of the Pure
Artifact
1 Smuggler's Copter
Instant
3 Path to Exile
4 Brave the Elements
Planeswalker
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Land
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Shefet Dunes
1 Mutavault
15 Plains
2 Auriok Champion
1 Stillmoon Cavalier
3 Riders of Gavony
2 Rest in Peace
1 Damping Matrix
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
3 Damping Sphere
I went 3-1.
MU 1 vs GDS 0-2, I play this guy for the last 3 weeks and for the frist time I lost, I kept a hand with one land and 4 1 drops, but well I must learn not to try it ever again.
Second game I lost to the spell that gives DS trample.
MU 2 vs The rock (GB control) 2-0, both games I drew Mirran crusader and it was fast.
Mu 3 vs Grixis )without DS) 2-0, a more traditional U control deck, lots of counters and damnation, but I eventually played elspeth in game 1 after his lotV made me sacrifice an Auriok Champion and the token soldiers just were too many for him to respond.
Game 2 went quite fast, with a very agroo hand with me.
MU 4 vs Reanimator 2-0 (goryos vengance, emrakul, griselband) both games little thalia anooyed him a lot, in the frist game he killed one and I frew a second one, and in the second game it was protected twice with brave the elements.
So, while my meta is heavy on black decks and II ran Auriok champion Main it didn't had a great impact, I think it is best when it comes out of the sideboard since it just slows me in game one, I am going to replace it for the time being with Gather the townsfolk. BUt I will also try getting one kytheon and one student of warfare.
Mutavault underperformed also, and a couple of games it got in the way of white mana for benalish marshal, I am removing it.
Benalish marshal is great, and while testing I was using 3 and 1 honor of the pure I soon realized that sometime I need HotP because of the cost, so it is now 3-2 split.
I tried militia bugler, not bad, but it is one more than Smuggler copter and I feel creatures costing 3 have to have a big impact on the board, maybe I am biased bow but the copter is an annoying creature that is not that easy to interact with.
I want to try Legion's landing here, the lack of synergy is a concern but getting it to flip becoming the 4th mana would make the deck so consistent (like the mono W decks I am playing in Arena). Love the card and is one very cheap way to get a token producing land without almost any drawback.
Given how heavy my meta is on black I am even considering including Nephalia Academy instead of ghost quarter, would really mess with the LotV and the rest of the discard spells. But maybe I am just desperate for a Land that brings some value instead of just being a land, shame that Westvale Abbey is so expensive to activate, the human tokens could come handy.
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I for sure try dropping honor of the pure and bringing Benalish marshal.
Reciprocate is there because I don't have the 4th path currently, might even cut it now and add another creature.
Definitely looking into tweaking the one drops, more Kytheons does seem the way to go.
Other cards I just started testing yesterday: Hero of bladehold, but I just don't like that as a 4 drop doesn't have an instant impact on the board, unlike Elspeth, Knight-errant which gives evasion and buffs to a creature, continues to apply pressure and create a new thing to respond to. But after some testing Hero of bladehold is very impressive if I get to attack with it.
Also, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, seems quite versatile to create more board presence or just getting an anthem right away for lethal.
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This is the version I am running:
1 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
1 Student of Warfare
4 Champion of the Parish
3 Thraben Inspector
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Auriok Champion
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2 Benalish Marshal
2 Honor of the Pure
Artifact
2 Smuggler's Copter
Instant
1 Reciprocate
3 Path to Exile
4 Brave the Elements
Land
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Shefet Dunes
1 Mutavault
15 Plains
Planeswalker
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Auriok Champion
1 Stillmoon Cavalier
3 Riders of Gavony
2 Rest in Peace
1 Damping Matrix
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
3 Damping Sphere
So, I agree the 2 CMC drop is one of the hardest spots, Thalia and Thalia lieutenants are the best, recently dropped Paladin en-vec from the main list to bring Auriok Champion, smoothing the mana curve and making the match vs grixis, jund and burn more favorable. (these are the most popular decks in my LGS FNM).
The main thing I have been trying to concentrate is playing creatures with protection, normally this kind of deck hits the opponent hard for the first 3 turns but then blockers and removal allow them to stabilize, protection allow for the last damage to come through, either mirran cursader, auriok champion or Brave the Elements which is one hell of a finisher most of the time.
Another card that I have liked a lot is Smuggler's copter, allows for some land filtering and the evasion is nice.
1Magic geek, from your list I took the idea of including Benalish marshal and so far it has been excelent.
My last FNM 3-1
2-1 vs Grixis
1st game 0-1, he opens with thoughtsize, then another one and death shadow next turn, the board gets kind of stale with some bloackers on my side but he ultimately counters my Elspeth and a mirran crusader and gives trample to his Death shadow.
2nd Game, 1-1, Auriok Champion comes in to play earlier and makes the game very hard for him, he scoops.
3rd Game, he opens up with grim lavamancer, since it can kill all my early threats I had to Path it, later another auriok champion closes the game
2-0 vs some green/white combo deck, I don't know the name of this deck but it makes some combo around sun titan creating lots of tokens.
In both games my deck is much faster and I drew mirran crusader to finish it.
0-2 vs Mono white death and taxes
In both games the combination of Eldrazi displacer and big thalia is just too much, I made some errors not taking his eldrazi temple sooner with my ghost quarter and in the 2nd game I brought Auriok champion to exploit displacer effect, it was working well but I missed around 5 triggers and lost the race, lessons learned about paying more attention to Auriok champion triggers.
2-0 vs Jund
Soldier of the pantheon shines in this matchup since a few of their spells are multicolored, along mirran crusader he couldn't contest the board in both games.
Since tribal decks are popular on my meta (not only eldrazi but also humans, spirits and even vampires) I am including riders of gavony to close out games with stale board states, hope to be able to test them this FNM.
Also considering bringing wither WLL or hero of bladehold for Elspeth as the finisher.
Also considering going green for Gaddock since Tron has been my worst matchup, or maybe blue for meddling mage and the new BW legend.
Finally, what do you think of aether vial for this deck?