On a seperate note, did anyone try running white knight main? Which slot did you have it take up and how did it work for you? I atleast want to get 4 on my SB before I get to FNM tonight...
I'm running white knight main, I think its pretty good. Obviously it loses soldier synergy but the pro black and first strike can be very helpful.
I put this together on mtgo a couple days ago and have been playing alot with it... not sure how I feel about certain cards. The squire can be good but alot of the time he sucks, but I feel like he's necessary for early pressure + card advantage w/ ranger of eos. Ranger of eos is an MVP of the deck, getting 2 elite vanguards is amazing. Captain of the watch is strong, but the 6cc really hurts, even with 23 lands. I'm considering trying to fit in harms way.
The white knight not being a soldier is obviously suboptimal, but imo the deck really needs that 2nd 2 drop aside from armorsmith. And I have found his pro-black useful.
I'm not sure how I feel about ajani... elspeth might be better but I had ajani's and not elspeth's so that's that... I dont want to drop that much money on a card that I'm not sure is actually better or not.
I'd like to try harm's way maindeck.
I tried martial coup and hated it, it costs way too much.
This list is post-lorwyn only, I just started back up w/ type 2 and I'm not going to buy cards that are about to rotate out. yeah thats suboptimal, yeah we don't know what zendikar will have blah blah blah. but I can't really imagine a situation in which some variant of this deck is not good after zendikar comes out... it has a crusade that is better than crusade, savannah lions, swords to plowshares, and other good cards...
I just hope zendikar has a 1cc soldier that is better than squire
With the current Meta, other than Kithkin and Elves!, Mancer should be MD'd... with 1/2 of US Nats being 5CC, and Fae still floating around (and alot going Grixis Fae to counter stag), 'mancer is getting back to being viable MD. Plus, our G1 versus kithkin is already good, so a 3-for-3 swap from 'mancer to cavalier would be simple for me.
So, the list would then include the MD Anathemancers. However, the questiong would then be, do I just swap the finks to SB or make those something else? 3 gutterals perhaps?
Here's what I think I am going to play in the side events at boston this weekend:
Why do Jund lists play Chameleon Colossus... for the mirror? Black is like the least relevent color to have protection from other than blue.
Cards which pro black is relevant to, all of which saw play in various nats in the last week:
Broodmate dragon
Shriekmaw
Doom Blade
Deathmark
Demigod of revenge
Maelstrom pulse
Putrid Leach
Butuminous Blast
Agony Warp
Terminate
Nameless Inversion
Profane Command
Peppersmoke
Stillmoon Cavalier
Bitterblossom
Aduke I agree about finks. THough they seem fine out of the board right now. I do think anathemancer is needed. I have had alot of trouble first game versus Conley"s first list (Nats one) vs 5CC. Anyways, where did you find Nelson's list. I like it quite a bit. 26 lands seems a bit much to me.
Nelson's list isn't posted as a "list" per se, but in an interview on starcity he gave a list of all the changes he would make.
I think anathemancer is necessary but I like 3, as Nelson said in his interview, especially since it can be cascaded into... I think 4 may be overkill as its weak against some decks and you don't always want it real early.
I like having the fink's MD along w/ the anathemancer's because it makes the deck more aggressive, which imo is what really wins against 5cc. Anathemancer is obviously good against 5cc, but so is fink and putting the beatdown on 5cc early is key to winning that matchup alot of the time imo.
I am hoping that the thresher's won't be missed MD because less people will show up w/ faeries. From alot of what I am hearing, if people do play faeries they may splash another color to deal w/ stag... if so they are vulnerable to the maindeck anathemancer's, and this deck has a strong matchup against faeries even w/out thresher MD I believe
I am thinking for the boston side events this weekend I am going to run Conley's 25 land manabase w/ nelson's non-land list, which gives an extra card to play with. That card will be either puppeteer clique, maelstrom pulse, or shriekmaw. I am thinking I will probably maindeck 1 clique, and then change his sideboard to replace a clique w/ a pulse. So I'll have access to 3 pulses and 2 cliques total.
3 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Forest
2 Mountain
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Swamp
4 Twilight Mire
3 Vivid Crag
4 Vivid Grove
3 Vivid Marsh
SIDEBOARD
1 Caldera Hellion
1 Anathemancer
2 Cloudthresher
3 Deathmark
2 Puppeteer Clique
4 Great Sable Stag
2 Thought Hemorrhage
He keeps the kitchen finks and fits in the anathemancer's by cutting cloudthresher and a shriekmaw. He's running 26 lands in this new version, vs 25 in conley's. all the decks at nats had 24.
Any thoughts? I am planning on taking this deck to boston this weekend to play in side events with... and I'm thinking that I like nelson's list a little better. Maybe stick w/ the 25 lands conley suggested but go back to 4 shriekmaws or the 3rd maelstrom pulse? I am nervous about conley's version because I just don't know about cutting the finks, they seem really good in this deck.
I'm running white knight main, I think its pretty good. Obviously it loses soldier synergy but the pro black and first strike can be very helpful.
Here's my list:
4 Elite Vanguard
4 White Knight
4 Veteran Armorsmith
4 Veteran Swordsmith
4 Ranger of Eos
3 Captain of the Watch
2 Ajani Goldmane
4 Path to Exile
4 Honor of the Pure
23 Plains
I put this together on mtgo a couple days ago and have been playing alot with it... not sure how I feel about certain cards. The squire can be good but alot of the time he sucks, but I feel like he's necessary for early pressure + card advantage w/ ranger of eos. Ranger of eos is an MVP of the deck, getting 2 elite vanguards is amazing. Captain of the watch is strong, but the 6cc really hurts, even with 23 lands. I'm considering trying to fit in harms way.
The white knight not being a soldier is obviously suboptimal, but imo the deck really needs that 2nd 2 drop aside from armorsmith. And I have found his pro-black useful.
I'm not sure how I feel about ajani... elspeth might be better but I had ajani's and not elspeth's so that's that... I dont want to drop that much money on a card that I'm not sure is actually better or not.
I'd like to try harm's way maindeck.
I tried martial coup and hated it, it costs way too much.
This list is post-lorwyn only, I just started back up w/ type 2 and I'm not going to buy cards that are about to rotate out. yeah thats suboptimal, yeah we don't know what zendikar will have blah blah blah. but I can't really imagine a situation in which some variant of this deck is not good after zendikar comes out... it has a crusade that is better than crusade, savannah lions, swords to plowshares, and other good cards...
I just hope zendikar has a 1cc soldier that is better than squire
Here's what I think I am going to play in the side events at boston this weekend:
MAIN DECK
3 Anathemancer
4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Puppeteer Clique
2 Caldera Hellion
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Mulldrifter
4 Putrid Leech
3 Shriekmaw
2 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Volcanic Fallout
2 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Forest
1 Graven Cairns
2 Mountain
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Swamp
4 Twilight Mire
3 Vivid Crag
4 Vivid Grove
2 Vivid Marsh
SIDEBOARD
1 Caldera Hellion
1 Anathemancer
2 Cloudthresher
3 Deathmark
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Great Sable Stag
2 Thought Hemorrhage
Cards which pro black is relevant to, all of which saw play in various nats in the last week:
Broodmate dragon
Shriekmaw
Doom Blade
Deathmark
Demigod of revenge
Maelstrom pulse
Putrid Leach
Butuminous Blast
Agony Warp
Terminate
Nameless Inversion
Profane Command
Peppersmoke
Stillmoon Cavalier
Bitterblossom
Nelson's list isn't posted as a "list" per se, but in an interview on starcity he gave a list of all the changes he would make.
I think anathemancer is necessary but I like 3, as Nelson said in his interview, especially since it can be cascaded into... I think 4 may be overkill as its weak against some decks and you don't always want it real early.
I like having the fink's MD along w/ the anathemancer's because it makes the deck more aggressive, which imo is what really wins against 5cc. Anathemancer is obviously good against 5cc, but so is fink and putting the beatdown on 5cc early is key to winning that matchup alot of the time imo.
I am hoping that the thresher's won't be missed MD because less people will show up w/ faeries. From alot of what I am hearing, if people do play faeries they may splash another color to deal w/ stag... if so they are vulnerable to the maindeck anathemancer's, and this deck has a strong matchup against faeries even w/out thresher MD I believe
I am thinking for the boston side events this weekend I am going to run Conley's 25 land manabase w/ nelson's non-land list, which gives an extra card to play with. That card will be either puppeteer clique, maelstrom pulse, or shriekmaw. I am thinking I will probably maindeck 1 clique, and then change his sideboard to replace a clique w/ a pulse. So I'll have access to 3 pulses and 2 cliques total.
Brad Nelson posted his suggested changes as well. His list is this:
MAIN DECK
3 Anathemancer
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Caldera Hellion
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Mulldrifter
4 Putrid Leech
3 Shriekmaw
2 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Forest
2 Mountain
4 Reflecting Pool
1 Swamp
4 Twilight Mire
3 Vivid Crag
4 Vivid Grove
3 Vivid Marsh
SIDEBOARD
1 Caldera Hellion
1 Anathemancer
2 Cloudthresher
3 Deathmark
2 Puppeteer Clique
4 Great Sable Stag
2 Thought Hemorrhage
He keeps the kitchen finks and fits in the anathemancer's by cutting cloudthresher and a shriekmaw. He's running 26 lands in this new version, vs 25 in conley's. all the decks at nats had 24.
Any thoughts? I am planning on taking this deck to boston this weekend to play in side events with... and I'm thinking that I like nelson's list a little better. Maybe stick w/ the 25 lands conley suggested but go back to 4 shriekmaws or the 3rd maelstrom pulse? I am nervous about conley's version because I just don't know about cutting the finks, they seem really good in this deck.
Thoughts?