MTG Salvation

Quote from binmaa »

So as I am playing the deck for some time and have posted here with my other account (for which I unfortunately lost the login data), I just want to mention all cards which could be at least of some interest for us. I will mention the bad choices which would fit us too. Just to point them out, because maybe we are wrong and someone finds success with them, or at least to warn inexperienced players.

• Questing Beast this card is worth testing for sure. Even though 4 mana makes it probably borderline as we've seen with other cards before, it has 6 abilities relevant to our deck. While it may not end up in the mainboard I can see it replacing Thrun, the Last Trollin some sideboards.


• Yorvo, Lord of Garenbrig this card is a serious contender for Steel Leaf Champion even though it lacks evasion it will have more toughness than our elf the turn he is going to attack the first time and will become scaringly big if he stays on the battlefield for some turns. If it would not be a legendary I could see it as 4 of in the deck maybe even replacing Steel Leaf.


• Syr Faren, the Hengehammer this card is tricky to evaluate. While I see it's potential it also is a great risk. If the opponent decides to kill the creatures surrounding him or targeted by him we can easily end up with a bad 2/2. While the legendary rule keeps us from playing him as a playset (which I think is good) this card is probably the hardest to evaluate. It can end up really strong, but it can also prove to be bad. Also the 2 devotion aspect is an upside for us.


• Wildborn Preserver this card in my opinion is overrated. Especially because we got so many decent 2 drops now, I don't think that this will make the cut. While the ability seems relevant at first glance, I think the goal of our deck is to curve out as efficiently as possible. And if your follow up to this guy is a 3 drop you cannot use it's ability. So you end up with a 2/2 where you could have 3 Power or hasty 2 Power instead. But the biggest downside I see is that this guy suffers from the same problem as Reverent Hunter: He dies to every common removal spell played in Modern. Therefore I can see our opponents waiting for us to spend our mana on him just to kill him with the ability on the stack, letting us waste a turn worth of mana. I can only see him played as a pseudo 3 drop replacing Steel Leaf Champion and his buddies, which doesn't seem likely. As an additional downside it lacks one devotion which I don't think is made up by his abilities.


• Kenrith's Transformation this card is more than welcome in our creature removal suite. While obviously not beating out on dismember it can at least be a substitute to creature based removal spells like Savage Swipe and Nature's Way . While I don't see it in the mainboard it can be a sideboard option. 3/3s are nothing we cannot deal with and it does replace itself so we do not get 2 for 1ed. As it also deals with abilities it could be a sideboard card against problem creatures like Wurmcoil Engine, Death's Shadow, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and many other creatures we otherwise have problems dealing with.


• Rosethorn Halberd while being a some kind different version of Rancor I don't see any reason to play this. If the equip cost would be lower it would have a chance. But as it stands the only advantage it has is that it still gives devotion after the equipped creature died. Additionally it would lessen our creature count and make us even more vulnerable to get 2 for 1ed. Considering that we got so many good creatures within the last sets, its probably more likely to replace our Rancors with more creatures instead of adding more versions of them. Considering all the problems mentioned above I would not play it at all.


• Wildwood Tracker this guy would be a decent 1 drop one and a half years ago, before we got Pelt Collector and Hexdrinker. It is worth to mention that the only human in our deck is Experiment One therefore it should be a 2/2 most of the time. But sadly he does not grow our evolve creatures due to his strange design. As it stands now it does not make the cut in Modern. While probably being playable in Pauper. There is no reason to play this card unless you are on an ultra budget or just using it as a stopgap while acquiring the better one drops.

So this was my opinion on all cards which can somehow be considered for the deck. As I am writing this post there are 2 green cards not spoilered yet. So I dont expect them to be that much of a gamechanger. But if one of them turns out to be at least somehow playable I'll update this post.

I don't know if you like this post or not but I had a fun time writing it. So if you don't mind I'd like to do this for future sets too.

Quote from AmicDeep »

I agree that pendelhavrn is not a card for use. For it to work we need multiple cards that are 1/1s that need protection over tapping bout with our lands, in combo elves itakes sence hear in a aggro deck it doesn't and just provides feild and bloodmoon extra targets.

On preserver, on the my apologies I ment pelt collector (my brain views them as interchangeable)
In flash, I would argue it pretty relevent not all of the time but a significant amount. As if you play it conservatily it means you can instantly rebuild from boardwipes, get past counter spells, dodge removal giving it sudo haste, and provides instant speed blockers against decks like burn and humans when they think they are safe.

I would also argue that avatars reach and large size are pretty relevent in several matchups, most notably spirits wich is increasing in power, phoenix has left the metals so not so much against them but fairy's looks poised for a resurgence and against them it's fantastic,

Finally Vs ooze
Ooze need stuff to have died to pump it and in matchups with limited removal or where path is the main removal ooze struggle to grow. Also ooze is there for one reason gy hate and life gain. That's where it blooms this is more of a agressive generalist. And and most importantly dosnt interfere with oozes pump to pump it's self.

I agree this makes alot of 2 drops but if also point out that it with the droping of three drops this might be ok

I'd expect the 2 drops slot to consist of
4 guests
4 avatars
2 scooze
2 preserver
3 troll

Along side 14 one drops and 10 inst/sorc spells that should be a pretty optimal build.
(Maybe droping 1 troll for a Rhona's to blank batterskulls and deathshadow)

Quote from FourSkinrender »

Pendelhaven has a near-zero opportunity cost, but can randomly be relevant. Drawing a late Experiment One against an opposing Wrenn And Six etc. It's fine against decks full of Lava Dart and Gut Shot as well. More 1/1 creatures justifies more copies. I was playing 2 when I ran a single Pelt Collector in addition. Turn 1 Experiment One into Turn 2 Pendelhaven activation then Rancor is a fine attack.

I'm staying almost mono-basics for the time. Stranding opponents with Field Of Ruin rather than the basic color fixing they want has been borderline free Stone Rain levels of powerful.

The new beast seems sweet! I think I'm going to want 2 SB, maybe 1 MD (if I stay on 22 land, which is the current plan.)

Haste is huge, it always trades up, it still pressures life totals while clearing Planeswalkers. It is at it's best against the Path To Exile decks and Assassin's Trophy decks so 4 CMC is more realistic.

Wildborn Preserver seems more like Avatar Of The Resolute 5-8. Pretty medium. Experiment One does not trigger it.

I've been pining for a card like Wicked Wolf for a long time, a green Flametongue Kavu analog. This doesn't quite cut it for us, I don't think.

Really happy to see Green so pushed in the last couple sets. We were getting 0-1 playables per set for so long.