It's mixing the idea of the deck with others that can already work (blinks deck) and yes, Astral Drift, is a blink engine but not in a normal way, cycling.
Life from the Loam is a really good card if we play with cycling lands, for 2 mana we can recover 3 lands (cycling or utility lands like Ghost Quarter, Bojuka Bog) and these 3 lands are 3 draw's and 3 blink on Eternal for take what we need of the graveyard.
As alternatives to Renewed Faith we have Edge of Autumn or Street Wraith as free cyclers, although I don't like the option of losing lives on the actual meta. It might also be interesting to include Scarab Feast, it has a cheap cycle and gives main answer to many decks.
One of my fantasies in modern is to play a competitive deck with blink. I've tested many versions but I never get anything better than Death & Taxes. When I saw the spoiler of Astral Drift, it reminded me of the Astral Slide in legacy. A deck that consisted of blink with cycling the Eternal Witness to recover continuously the removals. The deck also uses Living Wish to access the different responses it has on the sideboard. The list: (source: https://www.hipstersofthecoast.com/2017/05/astral-slide-updated/)
I not sure about the ramp: Birds of Paradise is very lonely and is not a consistent ramp for initial hand in addition to the above, does nothing with the blink. We could opt for Aether Vial, but in the end it's more of the same. The other is to add disruption or some C1 with good ETB.
@Asmodeus666 The truth is, it works pretty well against my meta. Condemn is what surprised me the most, it works very well against phoenix, dredge and in general against anyone who plays creatures.
On the other hand you have to be very careful with the blood moon, sometimes you don't find the white or incredibly the double red.
The next FM i will play naya ponza and I will report you.
@asmodeus666 That's it, sometimes the moon doesn't interrupt enough. I have my hope placed on Domri and the dual card
If everything arrives on time, I will be able to try the naya version the following week but I will have to put the birds of paradise to avoid the incosistence with the mana.
@pf_mtg Birds of paradise make our game plan more consistent but sometimes it's not enough to win. I've lost games after T2 moon and 3 LD consecutive for lack of agroo.
I decided to leave them aside for 3 main reasons:
1) When I used the side, I almost always took them out, very few times they were left inside.
2) Bloodbraid Elf to utopia sprawl/arbor elf/birds of paradise is too bad, removing them I've lowered that possibility a bit.
3) So much flooding and bad top deck.
Very few times I have had hand without a mana dork, I would consider that it has lowered a 5% or less the consistency of T2 LD or BM but I have increased in a 10/15% the pressure in game.
I've been playing deck for a year and half, about 2 fnm at week. I usually visit this forum to get new ideas and try them out. I have finally decided to participate.
I have tried many variants of the ponza but I usually play the next one: (The shaman I added recently, before I used 2 hazoret or 1 huntmaster)
We are usually between 12/18 players and most of the time I hover in the 4/5 positions and occasionally in the top 3. It all depends if I face Humans or Affinity Hardened Scales, they are usually bad pairing but sometimes my side love me. Where game there is usually tron, uw/jeskai control, humans, titanshift, hardened scales, bant company, grixis death shadow and grixis delver.
Now I preparing a Naya version, based on the youtuber of the recent post but more focused on the bloodbraid elf. I also consider that the grim lavamancer doesn't fit on the deck. I'm considering Thalia (big) on main, she can support delaying the opponent's on T2 until LD, BM or Ajani arrives.
It's mixing the idea of the deck with others that can already work (blinks deck) and yes, Astral Drift, is a blink engine but not in a normal way, cycling.
I think the best way for the deck is Eternal Witness, cycling cards (cycling lands,Unearth,Edge of Autumn) and removals (Assassin's Trophy,Path to Exile,Abrupt Decay). Once we have a base of cards for 2 or 3 colors, we must add a second win condition and/or protect our strategy.
Life from the Loam is a really good card if we play with cycling lands, for 2 mana we can recover 3 lands (cycling or utility lands like Ghost Quarter, Bojuka Bog) and these 3 lands are 3 draw's and 3 blink on Eternal for take what we need of the graveyard.
As alternatives to Renewed Faith we have Edge of Autumn or Street Wraith as free cyclers, although I don't like the option of losing lives on the actual meta. It might also be interesting to include Scarab Feast, it has a cheap cycle and gives main answer to many decks.
4 Eternal Witness
1 Archfiend of Ifnir
Enchantment
3 Astral Slide
Land
2 Bayou
2 Savannah
1 Scrubland
3 Windswept Heath
3 Wasteland
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Tranquil Thicket
2 Barren Moor
3 Secluded Steppe
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Forest
4 Mox Diamond
Instant
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Swords to Plowshares
Sorcery
4 Living Wish
3 Vindicate
3 Unearth
4 Life from the Loam
Planeswalker
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Peacekeeper
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Loaming Shaman
1 Siege Rhino
1 Archfiend of Ifnir
1 Thragtusk
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Karakas
1 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Duress
I think in modern we can mount something similar, although we would have to add some answers to the main deck. Something like this:
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Knight of Autumn
4 Eternal Witness
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Siege Rhino
1 Archfiend of Ifnir
Enchantment
3 Astral Slide
Land
4 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Tranquil Thicket
2 Barren Moor
3 Secluded Steppe
2 Temple Garden
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Path to Exile
3 Renewed Faith
4 Assassin's Trophy
Sorcery
1 Eldritch Evolution
3 Unearth
3 Life from the Loam
I not sure about the ramp: Birds of Paradise is very lonely and is not a consistent ramp for initial hand in addition to the above, does nothing with the blink. We could opt for Aether Vial, but in the end it's more of the same. The other is to add disruption or some C1 with good ETB.
On the other hand you have to be very careful with the blood moon, sometimes you don't find the white or incredibly the double red.
The next FM i will play naya ponza and I will report you.
I think ponza is not the best deck for your meta but the naya version could work with a few tweaks.
4 Arbor Elf
1 Birds of Paradise
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Tireless Tracker
4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Eternal Witness
2 Glorybringer
3 Knight of Autumn
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
Enchantment
4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Blood Moon
2 Lightning Bolt
Sorcery
4 Stone Rain
1 Fiery Justice
Planeswalker
1 Arlinn Kord
2 Ajani Vengeant
Land
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Plain
8 Forest
3 Condemn
2 Fiery Justice
1 Knight of Autumn
3 Rest in Peace
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
2 Stony Silence
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Wear // Tear
You can change something based on your meta, for example add: Lightning Helix,Kitchen Finks and Grafdigger's Cage.
Kind regards!
The first two skills are good, more the second but the first one can be very useful with some cards. T3 titan with haste i so sweet
We could move on to a ponza g/r with more creatures. Fulminator Mage instead of Molten Rain.
If everything arrives on time, I will be able to try the naya version the following week but I will have to put the birds of paradise to avoid the incosistence with the mana.
@pf_mtg Birds of paradise make our game plan more consistent but sometimes it's not enough to win. I've lost games after T2 moon and 3 LD consecutive for lack of agroo.
I decided to leave them aside for 3 main reasons:
1) When I used the side, I almost always took them out, very few times they were left inside.
2) Bloodbraid Elf to utopia sprawl/arbor elf/birds of paradise is too bad, removing them I've lowered that possibility a bit.
3) So much flooding and bad top deck.
Very few times I have had hand without a mana dork, I would consider that it has lowered a 5% or less the consistency of T2 LD or BM but I have increased in a 10/15% the pressure in game.
I've been playing deck for a year and half, about 2 fnm at week. I usually visit this forum to get new ideas and try them out. I have finally decided to participate.
I have tried many variants of the ponza but I usually play the next one: (The shaman I added recently, before I used 2 hazoret or 1 huntmaster)
4 Arbor Elf
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tireless Tracker
4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Shaman of the Great Hunt
1 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Inferno Titan
Enchantment
4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Blood Moon
1 Courser of Kruphix
Land
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Mountain
8 Forest
3 Stomping Ground
2 Lightning Bolt
Sorcery
4 Stone Rain
1 Crumble to Dust
2 Molten Rain
1 Sweltering Suns
Planeswalker
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Obstinate Baloth
2 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Destructive Revelry
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Mizzium Mortars
We are usually between 12/18 players and most of the time I hover in the 4/5 positions and occasionally in the top 3. It all depends if I face Humans or Affinity Hardened Scales, they are usually bad pairing but sometimes my side love me. Where game there is usually tron, uw/jeskai control, humans, titanshift, hardened scales, bant company, grixis death shadow and grixis delver.
Now I preparing a Naya version, based on the youtuber of the recent post but more focused on the bloodbraid elf. I also consider that the grim lavamancer doesn't fit on the deck. I'm considering Thalia (big) on main, she can support delaying the opponent's on T2 until LD, BM or Ajani arrives.