Elixir of Immortality , Serra Ascendant, and then maybe some Survival Caches for life gain + draw method. You should also try and remove the 1 ofs that you do not really need for a mono white life gain deck.
Ever think about running Plummet, just in case? I don't know if it would benefit you or not, but it seems like it could possibly help you in certain scenarios.
Seems pretty good. I would think possible Student of Warfare over the Blademaster since you have no other allies. Or maybe even Transcendent Master as 1 or 2 of. Personally (maybe it's just my agro heavy meta) I'd worry about the lack or removal, maybe sub 2 PtE for Pledges?? I like the Emeria Angel + Soul's Attendant combo.
Unless he's going to run Basilisk Collar no point in the Student, but the trans seems like a very nice idea.
I gotta be honest... aside from being a cheap distraction, Serra Ascendant hasn't been as powerful for me either. IF it gets online... then sure, it's a beast, but it didn't happen often.
I still like the card, but share the view that the spot might have better options.
As a 1/1 Lifelink, it's definitely been useful but I could see my deck going -3 Serra A, +1 Lone Missionary +2 Basilisk Collar.
Tried just that actually, didn't work for me. Taking out the Seera's didn't help me what so ever in late game or early game.
Another FNM in the books. Another fun night with Vitality.
Few surprises in the decks present tonight. RDW, Vamps, 2x U/W Control, Time Sieve, Discard, Mass Poly, and a couple of rogue decks.
Match 1 - RDW - 2-1
Creature based RDW. Hells Thunder, Ball Lightning, Ember Hauler, etc etc etc.
Game 1 - Opening hand immediately disheartened my opponent. T1 Perimeter, T2 Luminarch, T3 Wall of Omens. The entire game was essentially spent with him focusing on keeping Luminarch offline, and interestingly enough, board wiping with Earthquake. I effectively did 2 damage to him the entire game. He blasted me with creatures throughout the game, and I kept gaining it right back through Serra A plinks, Perimeter Cap blocks, and a Lone missionary. He did all the work for me with a fetch, a 4 point Earth Quake, and a 7 point earth quake. Eventually, he ran out of fire and I managed to get Sun Titan to stay out, he scooped prior to what would have been the killing blow.
Game 2 - Mulliganed down to 6, 3 Plains, Wall of Omens, Serra A, and Luminarch. I never got going. He pretty much blasted away with no resistance as I proceeded to draw land after land after land. Bad shuffling on my part apparently.
Game 3 - Looked a lot like game 1. He beat on my walls and creatures, and kept Luminarch from coming online, but eventually a BSA stuck and sealed the game.
Match 2 - Time Sieve - 0-2
I really do hate this deck. Game 1 I simply didn't get a fast enough start. Walls vs Time Sieve = lose. I had a lone Serra Ascendant running over and plinking for damage for 5 turns... he went off. I managed to O ring an early Time Sieve, but after a couple Time Warps, I was left sitting there just watching him go through the motions.
(Sideboard Fail - -3 DoJ, -2 Perimeter Cap +2 Felidar Soverign + 1 Pithing Needle, +1 Oblivion Ring, +1 Path. In hindsight, I was an idiot for not grabbing the Purges... my brain failed to register that Time Sieve is a BLACK artifact... until it was too late)
Game 2 - I got off to a better start with a Serra A early, followed by a Lone Missionary, and eventually a BSA. I climbed to 37, got him down to 1, Angelsong. Angelsong.... Angelsong... Time Sieve engage!
Extreme frustration at missing the common sense of bringing in the Purges. I honestly think that they would change the matchup, as would having another 2 Pithing Needles (Needles for Tezeret, Purge for Time Sieve). Ah well.
Match 3 - Mono Black Discard - 2-0
Game 1 - Turn 1 he tosses out a swamp, Duress. Nothing but creatures and land in my hand, I happily show him, and he acknowledges he need to sideboard in a LOT more creature hate for game 2. I drop a wall, he drops a Liliana's Caress, at which point it's obvious he's playing discard. I get Mind Rot'd and toss a BSA and Sun Titan, then proceed to empty my hand, never again giving him an opportunity to force me to discard. Time goes on, Luminarch comes online... game over.
Game 2 - I mulligan down to 6, put the Leyline of Sanctity into play, he scoops before taking his first turn, having no answer at all for the Leyline.
Random game vs Mass Poly
This matchup is best answered with 2 questions.
#1 - Did Mass Poly go off on turn 4? If yes, game over you lose.
#2 - Did you start with a Luminarch and 2 lands in hand? - If #1 is untrue, and #2 is true, game over, you win.
Even staring down an Emrakul and Iona on the board, if it took any longer than turn 6 for Mass Poly to go off, Luminarch absolutely cleaned house. It's almost guaranteed to be online turn 6, and by that point the swarm of Angels absolutely overruns it. O Ring on the Awakening Zone and/or Garruk really slows them down long enough for you to overrun them.
In other news... a lot of positive feedback about the deck from the FNM crew. While I know it's not being recognized as competitive on this forum yet, a number of players at my FNM have expressed a bit of distress when being paired with me. It's earned a good bit of respect from pretty much everyone I've played against.
Time Sieve remains the only deck at FNM I've been paired with that I failed to beat... and it's due in large part to not having the 3 Pithing Needles for my Sideboard, and being an absolute R-Tard and not bringing in the Purges. ONE more turn would have won me 3 of the 4 games I've played against it, and exiling Time Sieve sets them back in a big way, while their Howling Mines continuously fill our hand with threats. A few bad luck draws and a lack of a proper sideboard are all that kept me from sweeping.
Take a gander at Grixis Control and you'll see that Time Sieve isn't the only hard one to beat :\. Maybe it's the way I'm playing but it seems it's VERY hard to kill grixis players.
Why aren't you guys running ranger of eos? It seems like he would be a bomb with the ascendants. Drop a 3/2 and fetch double 6/6 flying lifelink?
If you don't have 30+ life it's a big waste, lots of people aren't running Rest anymore, so super fast lifegain isn't a chance anymore. So now IMO ranger isn't worth the trouble.
This deck seems like it could fit in either this thread or the the RW(x) defenders thread, so I'd figured I'd post it here and see what you all have to say, since the other thread seems less active.
Vent Sentinel put's them on a clock and can remove threats like a pro.
Earthquake cripples weenie decks and an early game quake for 1 or 2 damage can wipe out a ramp deck's mana producers.
Luminarch Ascension with as much meat as in front of me, this guys rarely fails to get fully charged.
Felidar Sovereign by the time he shows up, they've pretty much blown all of their removal on my walls, so he can actually survive and provide a win for team Life.
So a Defender deck? With a bit of life gain in it, very good with the Luminarchs and stuff.
Note that survial catches are out, and so is lone. been replaced with transcendent master and wall of omens (plus a full count of awakening) The deck now has strong early-mid-and late game. grant it it doesnt have super late game like vitality does... but I feel its more solid. Now normally I say "transcendent is a bad choice" but he isnt in this build. everythings pretty cheap so you have mana to use on him, plus if you reoccur him with suntitan, its still all good. I've also put in sturring wildwood because he triggers all my soul's. so I could do (if I have mana open) EOT trigger him, gain 3 life. (ect) plus, he turns into a 3/5 (could be 3/6) wall with reach, not bad.
The catches are out... but I really dont mind it too much now the curve is banaced out. I still get omens CA, and gain much more life by dropping a creature then I do on gaining spells now. I just feel the build is finally solid.
May I ask why Cache's are out? They're good life gain and easy draw, basically 3 for +4 life and draw 2. Sounds really good to me.
U/W control was an alright play match for me, Leyline ruined them completely. Oblivion Rings owned Jace, and then it just took an Emeria or an Iona/Sun Titan to win.
Okay well I'm constantly getting stomped by Grixis, Pyromancers Ascension + Cruel Ultimatum = No Fun for me.
I added in Leylines, they couldn't do anything but destroy my creatures, which I brought back over and over and over. Which finally made them stop owning me. Essentially, if you don't have a Leyline by the time they pull a Cruel, you lose.
So, I had most of the cards in my deck already, but according to TCGplayer.com the low end price for my deck is $247.32. The high end is $460ish. Would not reccomend it to anyone with a budget
Hey, sometimes to win you have to use your wallet :). Mine apparently is anywhere from 168-341. Hmm, doesn't seem likely because I've spent 90$ in total for magic.
I don't see the point of MDing it. It MIGHT see some sideboards... But this deck already has a spectacular matchup against RDW.. I don't know what else it could be useful for...
I'll edit it in when I have a chance too; until then bye.
Unless he's going to run Basilisk Collar no point in the Student, but the trans seems like a very nice idea.
Tried just that actually, didn't work for me. Taking out the Seera's didn't help me what so ever in late game or early game.
Take a gander at Grixis Control and you'll see that Time Sieve isn't the only hard one to beat :\. Maybe it's the way I'm playing but it seems it's VERY hard to kill grixis players.
If you don't have 30+ life it's a big waste, lots of people aren't running Rest anymore, so super fast lifegain isn't a chance anymore. So now IMO ranger isn't worth the trouble.
In RDW, there isn't anything else to O-Ring so yeah that would be the best thing to use.
So a Defender deck? With a bit of life gain in it, very good with the Luminarchs and stuff.
This has turned into like a deck mainly for anything but life gain o.o
May I ask why Cache's are out? They're good life gain and easy draw, basically 3 for +4 life and draw 2. Sounds really good to me.
I added in Leylines, they couldn't do anything but destroy my creatures, which I brought back over and over and over. Which finally made them stop owning me. Essentially, if you don't have a Leyline by the time they pull a Cruel, you lose.
Hey, sometimes to win you have to use your wallet :). Mine apparently is anywhere from 168-341. Hmm, doesn't seem likely because I've spent 90$ in total for magic.
Planeswalkers.