Arcum's Astrolabe main use is to increase the number of snow permanents quickly for skred. I found that skred is somewhat slow against some big creatures in the format (angler, eldrazi tron creatures), so the astrolabe helps deal with them quicker for only one mana. It also cantrips and enables red mana from a mind stone.
Ratchet Bomb is holding a flex slot right now, I don't know what to include in its place. It's a good card that sweeps low cmc permanents and creatures that grow big to quick to be killed with other removal (death's shadow, tarmogoyf).
I was playing Pia and Kiran Nalaar before pyromancer, but i think pyromancer is better in that spot. I can see two lines of play with him:
-If we are winning, we can play it when we empty our hand to draw more gas and keep pressure. It says: "1RR: draw 2 cards and put a 2/2 in play", which is great.
-If we are losing, it can help us to find the right hate card for that matchup drawing two cards, while providing 4/4 shared in 3 bodies (resilient to removal). We often have useless cards vs certain matchups (Blood Moon against red decks, sweepers against big creatures or creatureless, Koth vs fast aggro, extra copies of mind stone, relics...) so the discard part is not really that big of an issue when we are in need for especific cards.
@Skredder: I also think there are much better options that perilous myr as D90Dennis14 stated.
@All: What do you think of Torbran, Thane of Red Fell? Does it have a place in the deck? 5 damage bolt and sweepers, tons of damage skreds maybe is worth it. It applies only to opponent and opponent's permanents, so he is safe from our own sweepers. I can see it in place of Koth, moving him to the sideboard, he is not as good as he used to be.
With the unbanning of stoneforge mystic, we can run an equipment toolbox, finding the right sword/equipment in every moment. Sigarda's Aid allows us to play equipment at instant speed, for protection with the right colour sword or for unexpected kills with colossus hammer. Since we are not all in with the combo, and colossus hammer is useless without Sigarda's Aid or Puresteel Paladin, only two copies are in the deck (maybe should be even one). Still, it is fetchable with Stoneforge Mystic if needed.
The deck has a lot of protection with Giver of Runes, Spellskite and the instant speed swords. The main goal is to protect and equip a Mirran Crusader for the right protections and strike for the win.
I see this deck going BW or RW instead of monoW with the new additions from Throne of Eldraine, but still have to look into this. Those colours would give the deck a bit more of interaction, something it currently lacks. Even could go WU for counters and a playset of Unsettled Mariner for more protection. What do you think?
I think skred is really well positioned right now, with so much midrange, control and creature based decks. The mains forms of combo are creature based, which we can interact with pretty well. Tron and scapeshift are the worst matchups I think, the only thing we can do is create a clock with Koth of the Hammer or Goblin Rabblemaster and hope to get there in time.
Have been following this thread since almost the beginning, but didn't post until now. Now that knights tribal will get some support I want to share the decklists I'm currently playing:
Having the access to Knight of the Reliquary and Retreat to Coralhelm combo is the main reason to go bant colors, but makes the deck much more competitive. We have either the combo plan or the beatdown plan, but it usually gets opponent offward on G1. Retreat often gets sided out in games 2 y 3 if the opponent has too much disruption.
Since best knights are usually cmc 3, having mana dorks let us drop them in turn 2, something I feel is necessary in a format like modern.
Giver of Runes and Unsettled Mariner give the essential protection to our key knights to stay on the battlefield. I found out that Unsettled Mariner is the best 2CMC knight. It slows a lot midrange decks with lots of cheap removal, which are usually a problem for tribal knights, since we can´t develop a board state, and in multiples are great since the ability stacks. Also scapeshift decks can't go off if one of them is on the battlefield.
I dont use artifact or burn hate sideboard because of the 3 Knight of Autumn mainboard. Urza decks can also get hated out with Pithing Needle.
Please tell me what do you think about it and which changes would you make to MB or SB. I find it pretty competitive and can stand a chance agaisnt the tier decks. When I get some more time I will post a Puresteel Paladin version I also run.
Arcum's Astrolabe main use is to increase the number of snow permanents quickly for skred. I found that skred is somewhat slow against some big creatures in the format (angler, eldrazi tron creatures), so the astrolabe helps deal with them quicker for only one mana. It also cantrips and enables red mana from a mind stone.
Ratchet Bomb is holding a flex slot right now, I don't know what to include in its place. It's a good card that sweeps low cmc permanents and creatures that grow big to quick to be killed with other removal (death's shadow, tarmogoyf).
I was playing Pia and Kiran Nalaar before pyromancer, but i think pyromancer is better in that spot. I can see two lines of play with him:
-If we are winning, we can play it when we empty our hand to draw more gas and keep pressure. It says: "1RR: draw 2 cards and put a 2/2 in play", which is great.
-If we are losing, it can help us to find the right hate card for that matchup drawing two cards, while providing 4/4 shared in 3 bodies (resilient to removal). We often have useless cards vs certain matchups (Blood Moon against red decks, sweepers against big creatures or creatureless, Koth vs fast aggro, extra copies of mind stone, relics...) so the discard part is not really that big of an issue when we are in need for especific cards.
I think seasoned pyromanceris one of the best cards in the deck.
@Skredder: I also think there are much better options that perilous myr as D90Dennis14 stated.
@All: What do you think of Torbran, Thane of Red Fell? Does it have a place in the deck? 5 damage bolt and sweepers, tons of damage skreds maybe is worth it. It applies only to opponent and opponent's permanents, so he is safe from our own sweepers. I can see it in place of Koth, moving him to the sideboard, he is not as good as he used to be.
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Ghost Quarter
16 Plains
Creatures
3 Giver of runes
2 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Puresteel Paladin
2 Spellskite
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Knight Exemplar
4 Mirran Crusader
4 Path to Exile
Artifacts
2 Basilisk Collar
2 Colossus Hammer
1 O-Naginata
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Batterskull
Enchantments
4 Sigarda's Aid
2 Disenchant
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Damping Sphere
1 Sword of Sinew and Steel
1 Rest in Peace
1 Stony Silence
3 Leyline of Sanctity
With the unbanning of stoneforge mystic, we can run an equipment toolbox, finding the right sword/equipment in every moment. Sigarda's Aid allows us to play equipment at instant speed, for protection with the right colour sword or for unexpected kills with colossus hammer. Since we are not all in with the combo, and colossus hammer is useless without Sigarda's Aid or Puresteel Paladin, only two copies are in the deck (maybe should be even one). Still, it is fetchable with Stoneforge Mystic if needed.
The deck has a lot of protection with Giver of Runes, Spellskite and the instant speed swords. The main goal is to protect and equip a Mirran Crusader for the right protections and strike for the win.
I see this deck going BW or RW instead of monoW with the new additions from Throne of Eldraine, but still have to look into this. Those colours would give the deck a bit more of interaction, something it currently lacks. Even could go WU for counters and a playset of Unsettled Mariner for more protection. What do you think?
Have been playing skred for a long time and thought it was time to post my decklist to see what do you think about it.
2 Frostwalk Bastion
2 Scrying Sheets
18 Snow-Covered Mountain
Creatures
2 Eternal Scourge
2 Seasoned Pyromancer
1 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Stormbreath Dragon
Planeswalkers
1 Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Koth of the Hammer
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Skred
3 Anger of the Gods
Artifacts
3 Relic of Progenitus
4 Arcum's Astrolabe
4 Mind Stone
1 Ratchet Bomb
Enchantments
3 Blood Moon
2 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Chandra, Awakened Inferno
2 Shattering Spree
2 Pillage
2 Pithing Needle
2 Dragon's Claw
I think skred is really well positioned right now, with so much midrange, control and creature based decks. The mains forms of combo are creature based, which we can interact with pretty well. Tron and scapeshift are the worst matchups I think, the only thing we can do is create a clock with Koth of the Hammer or Goblin Rabblemaster and hope to get there in time.
Have been following this thread since almost the beginning, but didn't post until now. Now that knights tribal will get some support I want to share the decklists I'm currently playing:
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Island
1 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Plains
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
3 Birds of Paradise
2 Giver of Runes
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Unsettled Mariner
4 Knight Exemplar
3 Knight of Autumn
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Mirran Crusader
Planeswalkers
2 Vivien, Champion of the Wilds
Spells
4 Path to Exile
2 Collected Company
Enchantments
3 Retreat to Coralhelm
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Veil of Summer
2 Negate
2 Pithing Needle
2 Damping Sphere
1 Rest in Peace
1 Blast Zone
1 Bojuka Bog
Having the access to Knight of the Reliquary and Retreat to Coralhelm combo is the main reason to go bant colors, but makes the deck much more competitive. We have either the combo plan or the beatdown plan, but it usually gets opponent offward on G1. Retreat often gets sided out in games 2 y 3 if the opponent has too much disruption.
Since best knights are usually cmc 3, having mana dorks let us drop them in turn 2, something I feel is necessary in a format like modern.
Giver of Runes and Unsettled Mariner give the essential protection to our key knights to stay on the battlefield. I found out that Unsettled Mariner is the best 2CMC knight. It slows a lot midrange decks with lots of cheap removal, which are usually a problem for tribal knights, since we can´t develop a board state, and in multiples are great since the ability stacks. Also scapeshift decks can't go off if one of them is on the battlefield.
Collected Company and Vivien, Champion of the Wilds are the source of card advantage. I had 4 copies of CoCo but I am testing 2 of Vivien right now. Going tribal lets us play a copy of Cavern of Souls, fetchable with Knight of the Reliquary, something other bant company decks can't do, which helps a lot vs control.
The sideboard probably can get some work, right now is a mix of:
Graveyeard hate: Rest in Peace, Bojuka Bog
Control hate: Gaddock Teeg, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Veil of Summer
Combo hate: Damping Sphere, Negate
Pithing Needle against troublesome planeswalkers (looking at you, Liliana of the Veil
And Elspeth and Blast Zone for grindy matchups
I dont use artifact or burn hate sideboard because of the 3 Knight of Autumn mainboard. Urza decks can also get hated out with Pithing Needle.
Please tell me what do you think about it and which changes would you make to MB or SB. I find it pretty competitive and can stand a chance agaisnt the tier decks. When I get some more time I will post a Puresteel Paladin version I also run.