This is a really good write-up for this part of the primer. I really like the fact that you break apart the card selection in tiers to separate the Pauper/Peasant/Budget builds. I just have a few things that I think are worth including/changing.
- 3rd Paragraph - you say activate CoA's ability even though it's a trigger (I know, not really a big deal, but never know if someone may get confused)
- When talking about cards like Altar's Reap etc. that have sacrifice a creature as an additional cost, I think it is worth mentioning that these spells make it impossible for opponents to counter the sacrifice. When using targetted removal, things can end poorly with bounce / exile removal or counters. This is a good way to play around countermagic heavy metagames which is something I have found relevant. I even played Fling before.
- I agree with Overheat's opinion on more basic lands. Having so many ramp spells in the Pauper version leads to absurd mana advantages in the late game thanks to cards like Far Wanderings that help us keep opponents buried under our card advantage.
- I also think the Game Plan of the deck shoudl be in a section before this. Probably just before this. I would think that starting out with the history of the deck --> Game Plan --> Card Selection --> Other Resources would be a good plan, or something along those lines.
I really like how this is looking though. Very detailed and lots of information. I can't wait to see a thread where formatting makes it look that much more organized and cleaner.
- bfine70
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Apr 17, 2014bfine70 posted a message on Crushing Dreams on a Budget - Child of AlaraPosted in: urdjur Blog
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Apr 16, 2014bfine70 posted a message on Crushing Dreams on a Budget - Child of AlaraLet's see if this works.Posted in: urdjur Blog
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As far as the general trends, you are right, it just makes sense to have the draw. Since the rule change, I think there should be a bigger focus on ramp and card draw since we are going to be casting CoA from the command zone a lot more. More card draw naturally fits with the ramp since we will have more resources to refill our hands as our ramp cards continue to be decent even later into the game.
Snow Lands and Kaldheim
I'm also on board with switching to snow basics. I already have been looking into the Into the North and Forest finders. The addition of these cards coincides really well with the rule change. I may also add in Skred, but I'm not 100% on it. I'm hoping there ends up being a snow-based card or two worth including outside of Skred but only time will tell. I don't quite know just yet how the mana base will shift, but I still intend to play the thriving lands and definitely plan to cut the panoramas.
Rolling Thunder v. Fireball
I have almost always played Rolling Thunder. The majority of the time I've cast it has been to clear several creatures at once and wipe a board without having to blow up the baby. Fireball is better in those other situations but I don't find myself using the card in those situations as often. We have removal for one-off creatures. Additionally if you're trying to take out something big alongside something smaller, Fireball doesn't do the trick since the damage is split up evenly as opposed to how you want. I don't think they are very different, but the additional flexibility provided by Rolling Thunder at the cost of a single extra red mana (which is less and less of a problem as we tweak the mana base) is something I am okay with.
The other thing I'd recommend are ramp spell and creatures. With all the big creatures you want to play and the extra mana you'll need to support paying for the Halana trigger, ramp seems like a must. I'd recommend Far Wanderings, Kodama's Reach, Farhaven Elf, and Springbloom Druid.
I really like the deck. I'm currently working on a Tormod / Ghost of Ramirez DePietro list myself.
Edit: all my decks are currently viewable here: https://www.moxfield.com/users/bfine70
1) Cleansing Wildfire - replacing Geomancer's Gambit. Same thing just one mana cheaper
2) Deliberate - Replacing the Whispers of the Muse/Ponder spot
Maybe - Feed the Swarm
Anything else catch anyone's eye?
Wretched Gryff: I like this card, and the 3/4 body is very relevant. I may cut Altar's Reap for it.
Impulse: I ran it a few years back in a version of this list. I feel like I typically want quantity when it comes to card draw, but maybe it is worth revisiting. I cut Ponder because I didn't like that it just gave me one card and didn't do much for filtering. I feel like Impulse may feel the same for me.
I think your instincts on Spoils of Victory and Deprive are right. I want to keep them in the maybeboard as Wizards seems to be more open to giving us common lands. I picked Boilerworks over Rot Farm because I just want more blue mana late game. Yes, we want green mana early, but with the Thriving lands, I think I want my bouncelands to be giving me blue mana. I don't think there is that much of a difference and I could see myself switching back.
1 Sidisi's Faithful
2 Cloud of Faeries
2 Coiling Oracle
2 Dimir Infiltrator
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Vedalken Aethermage
3 Drift of Phantasms
3 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Archaeomancer
5 Izzet Chronarch
5 Mulldrifter
Artifacts (2)
2 Mycosynth Wellspring
3 Darksteel Ingot
Enchantment (1)
1 Kaya's Ghostform
Sorceries (17)
1 Preordain
2 Merchant Scroll
2 Night's Whisper
2 Rolling Thunder
3 Compulsive Research
3 Cultivate
3 Far Wanderings
3 Geomancer's Gambit
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Mind Extraction
3 Notion Rain
3 Primal Growth
3 Read the Bones
3 Secrets of the Golden City
4 Deep Analysis
4 Reap and Sow
8 Treasure Cruise
1 Brainstorm
1 Crop Rotation
1 Dizzy Spell
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Village Rites
1 Whispers of the Muse
1 Undying Evil
2 Altar's Reap
2 Arcane Denial
2 Counterspell
2 Devour Flesh
2 Growth Spiral
2 Muddle the Mixture
2 Negate
2 Overrule
2 Perilous Research
2 Shred Memory
2 Terminate
3 Capsize
3 Dream Fracture
3 Faerie Trickery
3 Forsake the Worldly
3 Ghostly Flicker
3 Perplex
3 Reaping the Graves
3 Unmake
4 Mystical Teachings
4 Rain of Revelation
Lands (38)
1 Command Tower
1 Opal Palace
1 Path of Ancestry
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Thriving Bluff
1 Thriving Grove
1 Thriving Heath
1 Thriving Isle
1 Thriving Moor
1 Bant Panorama
1 Esper Panorama
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Jund Panorama
1 Naya Panorama
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Mortuary Mire
1 Mystic Sanctuary
4 Forest
6 Island
2 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Swamp
Maybeboard (7)
1 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Costly Plunder
2 Deprive
2 Grim Harvest
3 Soul Manipulation
3 Spoils of Victory
4 Wrecking Ball
7 Scour from Existence
With the changes to the Command Zone + Graveyard interaction, the deck wants to have a lot more velocity than the previous iterations had. We don't have to buy time looking for recursion spells like previous builds. This means I want to be ramping more, having more mana untapped, and drawing a lot more cards. Here's a little breakdown of some of the card selections.
Altar's Reap, Perilous Research, and Village Rites: I was always a fan of Altar's Reap. Now we get an even cheaper one. I know people have had different numbers of the previous two in the past, but I think now more than ever I want every copy of the effect possible so that I can draw more action and keep my hand full. This make it easier to keep hitting land drops and hit the few recursion spells we do run. No longer do we need a sacrifice outlet + recursion spell at all times, so I'd much prefer my sac outlets draw me cards.
Coiling Oracle: I'm throwing this in over Augur of Bolas. I've always had mixed feelings about Augur, but now that ramp is that much more important, I'd rather play a 2-drop that guarantees that I am ramping or cantripping. You could still probably fit it in the deck, but I'm just not a fan.
Whispers of the Muse and Rain of Revelation: Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer drawing my cards at instant speed. I cut Ponder to make room for Whispers and opted for Rain over Unexplained Vision and Foresee. This decision mainly comes down to preference. The scry on Vision is pretty neat, and may convince me to make the switch at some point, but for now, I want to keep some of my more expensive card draw spells to be instants.
Thriving Isle & co.: These are the big reason it took me a bit to come up with a list. As we have discussed in the last few messages, these allow our mana to be much faster. I've cut all the Rupture Spire-type lands, the Khans lifegain lands, and some of the bouncelands to make room for the full set of these and the panoramas. We get to spend a lot less time waiting to set up our mana thanks to these beauties and I am excited to see how other people make the manabase with them in the mix.
Mystic Sanctuary: Speaking of changes to the manabase, this was a card I previously included but never really tweaked the manabse to accommodate. Now that there aren't the slow lands, we can add the full panorama cycle to make sure we hit the three islands minimum to make this function. The panoramas can also help fuel threshold on an early Far Wanderings.
Opal Palace: This is another card that gets much better with the rule change. Previously, I would only ever cast Child from the command zone twice, maybe three times, in a given game. Now it is a little more likely that we can cast it from the command zone and the extra bit of ramp means that the added cost of filtering the mana isn't so taxing.
The Maybeboard
There's a number of card spots I still feel uncertain about. Unmake, Arcane Denial, Dream Fracture, Geomancer's Gambit, Overrule, and Kaya's Ghostform are the ones that come to mind. Here are just a few of the options I'm considering swapping in to potentially claim those spots.
Blue Elemental Blast / Hydroblast: I always love the blasts in this deck. I used to run 1/1 split of red and blue ones but opted for double red blasts due to increases in countermagic. I think being able to find one with Merchant Scroll is pretty important and I can see myself going back to the 1/1 split or throwing in one of the blue ones as well.
Deprive: This card got my attention thanks to Pauper and how it interacts with Mystic Sanctuary. We only have a few lands that are great to return now, but I think it is worth taking a look at as an extra way to squeeze value out of Mortuary Mire, Bojuka Bog, and Mystic Sanctuary. We can even use it to reset our Thriving lands.
Scour from Existence and Wrecking Ball: These are just considerations since I'm not sold on Unmake and Geomancer's Gambit. Unmake has always felt weird to me because of the awkward mana cost, although the Thriving lands may very well ease this awkwardness. Wrecking Ball provides some more adaptability and is an instant (since I've already mention how much I prefer those). It doesn't replace itself like Gambit, but with the increase in card draw in the deck, I may just opt for the instant.
Spoils of Victory: After urdjur's inclusion of Farseek, I wanted to look for cards that can put Sanctuary into play untapped. This appears to be the only one outside of Crop Rotation and Reap and Sow. It's a slower Rampant Growth in every other scenario, unless we decide to also include Witch's Cottage, but if I decide I'm really looking for that effect, or even just another ramp spell, I imagine this will be the first one in.