Having been running a Paladin deck for a while now, the Metalcraft might actually be more worthwhile than the draw. The ability to freely move equips around is invaluable. Before combat move most things onto a couple big swingers, after move it to untapped blockers. Distribute things around to be outside Pyroclasm range or move swords around to selectively protect relevant creatures.
Getting significant draw out of him is rare, but getting good swings thanks to Metalcraft should happen more often.
Agreed on the Vault Skirge. If I have the Skirge and a Husk in my opening hand it's the Skirge that hits the table first. I'm usually pretty happy to stick a Sylvok Lifestaff on them on T2 as well. Immediately recoup the phyrexian cost and you'll almost inevitably get 3 more out of the lifestaff at some point.
Much as I love both Puresteel and the knights deck, they don't really belong together. I'm playing a Puresteel deck and you need a lot more than 4 equips to make it useful. My current build has 10 and that might be 1-2 low. Suggest you take a look in the Puresteel WW thread if you want to play them.
Not a world beater, but it is fun Fetches & Steppe Lynx get you an explosive opening. The Angels keep the fetches from being a waste in the late game and provide fodder for chump blocking and fuel for the Mortarpods. Metalcraft lets you move the pods around for machine gunning cheaply as well as being awesome w/ the champion. It also negates the cost of equipping the sledge.
Yes, but there's no reason to bother. If you plan on milling someone then you need to do a whole lot of damage to mill them via the Mindcrank. At which point you win for reducing their life to zero, not for milling.
If you plan on winning via damage then Archive Trap gets you there in one shot w/o the Mindcrank.
Still think you should add examplars. She makes the deck have more synergy. otherwise you might as well play green white good stuff. Id cut tumble magnets for more beast within. its that we dont have much good ways to kill walkers. Play around with my list, as ive done pretty well with it, maybe it might make a difference
There's all kinds of fixes to be made. Drop the birds (though T2 Crusader is nice), Tumble Magnets are somewhat redundant, Gideon can probably go as can a sword. Garruk is great, maybe bump him up one.
Mostly played around w/ a friend who was testing a Splinter Twin/Deceiver Exarch deck. That deck is going to crush anything that can't counter the Twin or somehow kill the Exarch out from under it. Flash in the Exarch at the end of opponents turn, drop the Twin on your turn, game over.
As for the War and Peace, if you get it onto a Crusader and manage to connect you're golden. This build still sucks pretty hard though (like the Birds, which I tossed in thinking about splashing blue for Preordain). All the swords may be excessive, but BaM has pro-blue which is Into the Roil defense.
I think one thing people are overlooking is that the environment is so loaded with Jace and Preordain right now the stripping cards from the library is a bit more valuable than it would be otherwise. Sure it's not the same as pulling those cards out of someones hand, but it's not a trivial thing either.
Steppe Lynx along with fetches, though I imagine if you're having difficulty acquiring SoW then fetches are probably also a problem.
If you're running Emeria I'd probably also throw in a Sun Titan. You can recur Tec Edges and Journeys in addition to all your creatures. And Emeria can get your titan back if necessary.
taking our stoneforge mystics, but not squadron hawks? I'd rather see another stoneforge mystic go in, but then you should be using the Sword of Feast and Famine, it's just good with a lot of fliers...
You should also be using 4x knight exemplars, as 3 makes no sense
MD removal is a must, Journey to Nowhere should be a 3 or 4-of. And SB DoJ.
You can get away with 22 land. 20 is too few.
I like the squawks because they're the closest thing to draw available. I've thought about dropping them for Leonin Skyhunter though.
I bought a SOFAF a week ago. Too bad the seller decided to not respond to any emails. Canceled it, haven't got another yet
I'm not sure I agree that 4 Exemplars is a must. I used to run a build with 4, but I could never get more than one out. Indestructible knights seems like a neat trick but never seemed to work.
Adding journeys to the deck. Probably will try 21 lands.
Round 1 lost 0-2 to Vengvine. First game I couldn't get anything going and it was over quickly. Second game I sided in the Condemns and Journeys. I managed to get Ajani AND Gideon out and was able to use Gideons +2 to protect Ajani to get his -6 off. That gave me a 24/24 token which one would think would leave you in good shape. But Acidic Slime screwed me every which way.
Round 2 lost 1-2 to a Tezz-infect deck. In game 3 his opening hand included a pair of Pyroclasms. The first took out a student and a paladin. (I knew I should have leveled the student instead of playing the paladin!) The second got a crusader. Hand was pretty well depleted by then.
Round 3 I didn't expect at all. I've not seen a quest deck at this shop before. Game one he couldn't get it going. Games 2 and 3 he got Argentum Armor out on about turn 3. That makes for a quick game.
I had some severe mana runs in all games. Going to be dropping down to 20 Plains. The Mystic is out. Should have never been in. Sided out every time. The Strata Scythe is out too.
Those changes free up 4 slots. Not sure if I need more creatures, or some main deck removal or what.
2. 3 mana available, opponent tapped out, you have 2 cards in hand, Knight Exemplar, Mirran Crusader. Which do you lay when a) you have 1 knight on battlefield already, and b) you have no creatures available.
3. You have a brave the elements Vs Goblin deck. Do you always try and keep 1 mana free at EOT?
1) I think it depends on what they're playing and who's playing first. T1: Plains, Student. T2: if you can swing for 1 then do that and drop the Paladin. If you can't, then level and swing.
2) Half the value of Examplars in my experience is fishing out counters so you can sneak a Crusader in. I'd probably play the Crusader in both cases.
3) This is where the don't-over-extend advice comes in.
Played this at a local shop last weekend. It was my first constructed tournament after a ten year hiatus. Definitely some rust. Should have played more on MWS to get used to things.
Anyway, it didn't go well:
Battle cry/infect: 1-2. I took game one, lost game two, and then made a crucial misplay in game 3 that cost it for me. I had sided in Journey to Nowhere. Had I done that two his Signal Pest I could have taken him. Instead I played a Mirran Crusader figuring I'd be able to block my way to another turn. No dice.
Valakut: 0-2. Got spanked in game one. He had an answer for everything I played. Sided in the Leyline and managed to cast it in game two, but he ran me over with an Avenger of Zendikar instead.
Kuldotha Red: 0-1. Terrible terrible draws. I had one land in my opening hand. Mulliganed down to 5 looking for a decent hand that never arrived. Opponent dropped after the first game to play in a booster draft instead.
Landfall: 0-2. Smacked around by Steppe Lynx, Plated Geopede and Adventuring Gear.
So yeah, didn't go well. Part of the problem was probably that I impulsively added the 3 Accorders minutes before starting, dropping a Repel, a BtE, and an Exemplar to make room. But beyond that, I just couldn't keep up. I was careful not to over extend, but answers for my creatures seemed plentiful.
Thinking about splashing blue for some counter magic now.
It's funny, back when I first started playing I played blue all the time. Now here I start again in a control heavy environment and every deck I play around with has no blue. (I have built several casual decks in addition to this that I hope to hone to at least be competitive.)
Getting significant draw out of him is rare, but getting good swings thanks to Metalcraft should happen more often.
4 Arid Mesa
4 Marsh Flats
13 Plains
3 Tectonic Edge
Creatures
4 Puresteel Paladin
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Etched Champion
3 Emeria Angel
4 Steppe Lynx
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Batterskull
2 Mortarpod
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Piston Sledge
4 Flayer Husk
2 Divine Offering
4 Dispatch
Not a world beater, but it is fun
Yes, but there's no reason to bother. If you plan on milling someone then you need to do a whole lot of damage to mill them via the Mindcrank. At which point you win for reducing their life to zero, not for milling.
If you plan on winning via damage then Archive Trap gets you there in one shot w/o the Mindcrank.
There's all kinds of fixes to be made. Drop the birds (though T2 Crusader is nice), Tumble Magnets are somewhat redundant, Gideon can probably go as can a sword. Garruk is great, maybe bump him up one.
Played this in some MWS last night.
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Stirring Wildwood
3 Forest
7 Plains
4 Mirran Crusader
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Sun Titan
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Hero of Bladehold
4 Student of Warfare
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Batterskull
2 Naturalize
3 Beast Within
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Gideon Jura
3 Tumble Magnet
Mostly played around w/ a friend who was testing a Splinter Twin/Deceiver Exarch deck. That deck is going to crush anything that can't counter the Twin or somehow kill the Exarch out from under it. Flash in the Exarch at the end of opponents turn, drop the Twin on your turn, game over.
As for the War and Peace, if you get it onto a Crusader and manage to connect you're golden. This build still sucks pretty hard though (like the Birds, which I tossed in thinking about splashing blue for Preordain). All the swords may be excessive, but BaM has pro-blue which is Into the Roil defense.
If you're running Emeria I'd probably also throw in a Sun Titan. You can recur Tec Edges and Journeys in addition to all your creatures. And Emeria can get your titan back if necessary.
I like the squawks because they're the closest thing to draw available. I've thought about dropping them for Leonin Skyhunter though.
I bought a SOFAF a week ago. Too bad the seller decided to not respond to any emails. Canceled it, haven't got another yet
I'm not sure I agree that 4 Exemplars is a must. I used to run a build with 4, but I could never get more than one out. Indestructible knights seems like a neat trick but never seemed to work.
Adding journeys to the deck. Probably will try 21 lands.
Thanks for the suggestions.
22 Plains
3 Tectonic Edge
Creatures
2 Hero of Bladehold
3 Knight Exemplar
4 Student of Warfare
4 Mirran Crusader
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Accorder Paladin
1 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Honor of the Pure
4 Brave the Elements
Artifacts
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Strata Scythe
1 Sword of Body and Mind
Planeswalkers
2 Ajani Goldmane
2 Gideon Jura
2 Condemn
3 Divine Offering
3 Journey to Nowhere
4 Kor Firewalker
3 Silence
Round 1 lost 0-2 to Vengvine. First game I couldn't get anything going and it was over quickly. Second game I sided in the Condemns and Journeys. I managed to get Ajani AND Gideon out and was able to use Gideons +2 to protect Ajani to get his -6 off. That gave me a 24/24 token which one would think would leave you in good shape. But Acidic Slime screwed me every which way.
Round 2 lost 1-2 to a Tezz-infect deck. In game 3 his opening hand included a pair of Pyroclasms. The first took out a student and a paladin. (I knew I should have leveled the student instead of playing the paladin!) The second got a crusader. Hand was pretty well depleted by then.
Round 3 I didn't expect at all. I've not seen a quest deck at this shop before. Game one he couldn't get it going. Games 2 and 3 he got Argentum Armor out on about turn 3. That makes for a quick game.
I had some severe mana runs in all games. Going to be dropping down to 20 Plains. The Mystic is out. Should have never been in. Sided out every time. The Strata Scythe is out too.
Those changes free up 4 slots. Not sure if I need more creatures, or some main deck removal or what.
1) I think it depends on what they're playing and who's playing first. T1: Plains, Student. T2: if you can swing for 1 then do that and drop the Paladin. If you can't, then level and swing.
2) Half the value of Examplars in my experience is fishing out counters so you can sneak a Crusader in. I'd probably play the Crusader in both cases.
3) This is where the don't-over-extend advice comes in.
23 Plains
Creatures (25)
3 Accorder Paladin
4 Elite Vanguard
3 Hero of Bladehold
3 Knight Exemplar
4 Mirran Crusader
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Student of Warfare
2 Ajani Goldmane
3 Brave the Elements
4 Honor of the Pure
3 Repel the Darkness
4 Journey to Nowhere
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Revoke Existence
1 Sword of Body and Mind
4 Tectonic Edge
Played this at a local shop last weekend. It was my first constructed tournament after a ten year hiatus. Definitely some rust. Should have played more on MWS to get used to things.
Anyway, it didn't go well:
Battle cry/infect: 1-2. I took game one, lost game two, and then made a crucial misplay in game 3 that cost it for me. I had sided in Journey to Nowhere. Had I done that two his Signal Pest I could have taken him. Instead I played a Mirran Crusader figuring I'd be able to block my way to another turn. No dice.
Valakut: 0-2. Got spanked in game one. He had an answer for everything I played. Sided in the Leyline and managed to cast it in game two, but he ran me over with an Avenger of Zendikar instead.
Kuldotha Red: 0-1. Terrible terrible draws. I had one land in my opening hand. Mulliganed down to 5 looking for a decent hand that never arrived. Opponent dropped after the first game to play in a booster draft instead.
Landfall: 0-2. Smacked around by Steppe Lynx, Plated Geopede and Adventuring Gear.
So yeah, didn't go well. Part of the problem was probably that I impulsively added the 3 Accorders minutes before starting, dropping a Repel, a BtE, and an Exemplar to make room. But beyond that, I just couldn't keep up. I was careful not to over extend, but answers for my creatures seemed plentiful.
Thinking about splashing blue for some counter magic now.
It's funny, back when I first started playing I played blue all the time. Now here I start again in a control heavy environment and every deck I play around with has no blue. (I have built several casual decks in addition to this that I hope to hone to at least be competitive.)