I've never understood why Rebuff the Wicked is still more popular than Faith's Shield (as indicated by their prices). Any spell that targets a permanent you control can easily be hosed by giving the targeted permanent protection from that spell's color, but giving a permanent protection from a color makes Faith's shield more flexible imo. The only instance I can think of Rebuff > Faith's is if the offending spell has multiple targets or additional effects tacked onto it, but these cases seem few and far. Perhaps I'm missing something?
On a similar note, I've also never understood why Paradise Mantle is so much more expensive (popular) over Springleaf Drum, especially considering that the drum sees tournament play in affinity. Both spells cost 1 mana before you can start using their ability, but drum can let you add mana right away, AND you don't have ever worry about paying extra mana to re-equip. Yet paradise plume is a $2+ card!
Hmmm. Surely there has to be more to it, than that.
If I were playing Standard FNM infect (and I'm just guessing here, because I've never done that), and I was going to be attacking only with one creature at a time (to take advantage of Exalted), I'd probably play Predator's Gambit and/or Rancor. Then you get TWO extra poison counters... and evasion. I don't see how Cathedral benefits infect, sorry.
While gambit and rancor synergize well with infect, the nice thing about Cathedral is that it's land and "technically" it doesn't take up a card slot. I say "technically" though because almost every infect deck wants to run a playset of Inkmoth, so I think most infect decks would be hard pressed to throw in another playset of colorless lands. CoW's price still seems to be around what it was when the set first came out, if not a little lower, but given the preceding situation above I don't see CoW exploding any time soon, at least not through infect. Unless infect is ok with going mono-color, and I don't know if there is enough support for infect to go mono, in standard at least.
Sun Droplet ticks on EACH upkeep giving more life than ajani's mantra for as long as you get damage, for 2 mana that is unbeatable. Against burn that card single handly makes the game 2-4 turns longer
Exactly. It's also very rare that Sun Droplet runs dry since I can refill it with Battlefield Forge. If I'm really desperate for life gain triggers, I can always Searing Meditation myself to get a few counters on the droplet.
Quote from weltkrieg »
Against control variants, your better strategy, besides the removal of the creature removal (path to exile doesn't do much against several of them) might be to attack their mana base more effectively. With Ajani Vengeant already in, perhaps you should consider a land destruction sideboard package? Stone rain could be rough, in addition to the blood moons, etc.
Interesting sideboard idea. I don't have time to explore this at the moment, but I'll definitely consider it for the future.
I've adjusted my deck a bit, and edited the original post (-1 ghost-lit, -1 faith's shield, +2 o-ring, so I at least have a chance against some combo decks game 1). I'm also taking out the walls from my sideboard, so I have 4 slots open. Was thinking of trying to fit the following cards somewhere in my sb:
Graffdigger's Cage: Stops pod/rites decks, but easily susceptible to removal
: Seems like excellent hate for rites and pod. If I'm understanding correctly, this can stop melira pod from going infinite by exiling Kitchen FInks or Murderous Redcap from going infinite by playing any of these in response to the wither trigger.
Ricochet Trap: This seems like a great answer against blue control. I think I'm going to try and fit a couple of these in the sideboard at the very least.
I'm planning on testing this deck out tomorrow at a Modern tournament Pastimes is holding. It's my first modern experience so I don't expect to do terribly well, but I'm hoping it will give me some insight into what works well and what needs improvement. I'll be sure to post my findings, but if anyone has any other suggestions, mainboard or sideboard, that they think would be excellent tech/hate for the current modern meta it'd be really appreciated!
Ive been thinking about splashing red for meditation and lightning helix in Martyr-Proc. I think it gives the deck some reach and other tools in red.
I recall seeing a few Martyr-Proc builds attempting this, but I didn't really follow up with it, but I think it could work as a nice alternative wincon. I wouldn't play more then 3 Searing Meditations in the deck though, since you don't want to really draw it until you have the mana to abuse it. The only reason I'm running 4 maindeck is because my build is pretty dependent, though I myself have been switching back between running 3 and 4. Feel free to post your decklist if you fit meditation into your deck. It's a direction I've thought about going a few times myself, I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with.
Quote from "Antz0r" »
I tested this a bit tonight after seeing your decklist, it seems to do fairly well versus aggro. The main problem I've had is against combo (Griselbrand Reanimator) and Green Tron. I like the idea of the deck and it is fun to pilot.
Glad to hear you had fun piloting it. It's a fun deck to play for sure, not so much to play against from what I've heard :). Comforting to hear that it did well against aggro. Out of curiosity, what aggressive decks/builds were you pit up against?
Interesting choice using Lightning Bolt and Earthquake over Lightning Helix. Does it really help with the tempo? I've found that I'm usually ok with paying an extra mana for the helix, even if it's a turn later, since the life gain usually offsets any damage you may have taken the previous turn. Late game, the life gain from helix can serve as a useful resource still, where-as I feel bolt is not as useful at this point in the game. A board sweeper does seem like a good idea though, I'll consider something at least for the sideboard.
Combo does seem to be a big problem for the deck. The tron matchup seems rough since there really isn't anything to sideboard in against it in either of our decks. Blood Moon and Graffdigger's Cage can slow their deck down, which might give us enough time to get them down to 0 with pridemate, finks, and helix. I am leaning more towards using cage in the sideboard since it's cheaper and a little more versatile in stopping decks that specifically give this deck problems.
Actually, I've had my eye on Hide//Seek for a while. It's Disenchant, but it can also be used to wreck combo decks by searching for and exiling their singletons. The lifegain is also a bonus in this deck. Only problem is that the card is black, so I would have to splash black, and I don't know if it's worth putting shocks/fetches and paying the extra life just to use this (seemingly) amazing sideboard card. It does however open the possibility to splashing other black cards so maybe there's something worth looking at here?
EDIT: For some reason I though graffdigger's stopped players from searching their library. So yeah...Blood moon would probably be the better choice against Tron. As long as they can't ramp into their Eldrazi this deck should be able to hold off me thinks.
The general idea is to survive long enough until you can contain the board, then have your opponent locked down from playing any creatures with Searing Meditation. From there, you can just start shocking your opponent to the face with Searing Meditation or swing in with a large Ajani's Pridemate. A brief overview of how the deck generally plays out (from my experiences) throughout a game can be seen below:
Early Game (Turns 1 - 4):
The early game focuses heavily on survival and removal. Life gain is incorporated in the form of removal to ensure we're gaining as much life as possible to be able to cast our bigger spells and plays for the midgame. Lightning Helix and Recumbent Bliss act as removal while adding on to our life total. Sun Droplet helps keep our life total up while we are ferociously attacked. Kabira CrossRoads Can gain us a little life if we can afford having the land ETB tapped this early in the game. Depending on our hand and our opponents deck, Ajani's Pridemate can serve a role as a big beefy blocker (thanks to all the lifegain triggers) in the early game as well. Kitchen Finks Provides us with more welcome lifegain, a double blocker, and a nice followup to the pridemate.
Mid Game (5 - 7):
If you've survived until the mid game and controlled most of the opponents aggressive drops, then you're in good shape!Pristine Talisman Helps you ramp up for the late game whilst gaining life. Ajani Vengeant can help take care of any problematic creatures/permanents lingering about, while also providing a means of gaining life if need be. Meanwhile, you're still gaining life from your Recumbent Blisses and Sun Droplets. Ajani's Pridemate might be good to get out on the board now if you haven't already, as it wil get really big with all the lifegain triggers in no time. If possible, drop Searing Meditation or Well of Lost Dreams onto the battlefield. The earlier we can start shocking creatures and gaining card advantage, the better.
Late Game(8+):
By this point you should have the board under control and either have Searing Meditation or Well of Lost Dreams out. Sun Droplet, Recumbent Bliss, and Pristine Talisman are all permanently recurring life gain events that trigger either of these two cards, thus allowing us to easily shock anything (or anyone) and/or draw cards. If necessary,Battlefield Forge can be used to damage ourselves, netting a charge counter on Sun Droplet if it runs dry at this point in the game. A late game Ajani's Pridemate can also prove devastating here, gaining 5 +1/+1 counters easily within a turn. Late game Kabira Crossroad topdecks are also welcome. With all of the synergy and support, it should be easy to shock you opponent to death within a few turns, or swing in with a massive pridemate.
The sideboard is pretty self explanatory, though needs a little work. Though this deck is geared towards handling mostly created based/aggro decks, I don't know how well it will hold up against the top modern aggro decks. This deck is quite weak to combo however, as there are very few answers. I was thinking of replacing the walls with 4x Graffdigger's Cage As a way to stop melira-pod or any recursive strategies, but I'm not sure if there's something better that can be in my sideboard. What I'm looking for here are suggestions for mainboard and sideboard that could help this deck when pitted against the top tier decks. I realize this isn't a tier 1 deck by any means, but I'd like to push this deck to it's limit. I've done a lot of goldfishing and casual playtesting and the deck's done very well. It works fine and the draws are pretty good. I just don't know how well it can do in modern. I Any suggestions are appreciated! If there's interest, I can discuss the inner workings of the deck in further detail.
Wondering if anyone's tried Haazda Shield Mate? I found it in a foil binder and it looks great.
Looking at it, I don't think it would work. Since the damage is prevented, we would not receive soldier tokens, and we certainly don't want that!
Maybe I'm stupid or maybe someone mentioned it but why no Platinum Emperion? You still receive damage but your life total will not change. Seems kinda broken with Darien...
This guy does seem pretty nuts with Darien, but even for EDH it's a really expensive safeguard. Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant Essentially do the same thing (you take damage, but gain the life back so it's like your life never changed), except they only cost 1 mana, and both are tutorable by Ranger of Eos, which is a staple in this deck. Still, I could see some decks running this card as well, it's all personal preference really.
I realize I'm bumping a rather old topic, but it is the primer, and I found a new card that I think is really sweet tech for this deck, so I figured it was worth the bump for others to know about and discuss. The card I am referring to is Sivvi's Valor. It is essentially Jade Monolith, but in instant form. There are some advantages here:
1. Since it's an instant, no one will see it coming. Compared to Jade, where they know if they deal combat damage it will be redirected to you.
2. You can play it for FREE. Since 99% of the time you will be playing this with Darien on the field, you can just tap him to pay the alternate cost of the spell. This makes the spell even MORE elusive and sneaky!
3. In 1 vs 1 games you would be using this on one of your own attacking creatures to redirect to you. In multiplayer games this becomes a lot more interesting. you can use it to save someone's creature from damage, while netting some tokens for yourself!
4. Even without Darien out, you could always use it to save a key creature from combat, at the cost of life of course.
Did a gatherer search for green lifegain in modern and was surprised at how little variety there was...these are the cards that I didn't see mentioned yet:
Not sure what R/G build you're playing exactly, but Leyline of Vitality might be what you're looking for. It's only really good if it's in your opening hand, otherwise you'd probably be dead before you even got the chance to cast it against RDW, but in a heavy creature build it's a one-sided Essence Warden that could help put your creatures out of bolt/shock range.
Primal Command Might be a little slow, but again, depending on your build could prove to be a nice fit.
Huntmaser of the Fells if you're not already running him. Not that he's really played for the life gain, but still, he gains you life and gives you 2 bodies to block with.
Gnaw to the Bone is just straight life gain. If you're playing a heavy creature deck though, it might be just what you need.
Why isn't this topic receiving more love? This is one of the more original decks I've seen, and I'm loving all the synergy I'm seeing. At a glance though, I worry that while the deck is a good idea on paper, it might be lacking in execution. Have you playtested at all? How has the deck worked out for you?
Hyugafan gave some really great advice. Cabal Therapy seems really sick with Veteran Explorer, but if you don't have a playgroup you consistently play with, or a meta isn't really present, then it can be hard to use.
Not sure what I think of Trapmaker's Snare in this deck. It's basically like playing 8 Archive Traps, but it still feels a little underwhelming since the only card that forces a search is Collective Voyage. If you run a sideboard, you could throw a couple of different trap cards to swap into your deck so you can fetch them when needed.
Another idea might be to shift from black to white, since you can find alot of similarly functional cards in white. White has Wrath of God, which is always good, but even better is Path to Exile, which is not only great spot removal, but fits into this whole theme. It puts opponents in an awkward spot because they have to decide whether they want to take the risk of searching for a basic and risk getting archive trapped or not.
Finally, the deck feels like it could use a little more control. Things will probably get out of hand really quick if we're helping our opponent ramp, throwing in a few counterspells might not be a bad idea. Maybe even Silence if you end up playing white, as to prevent your opponent from laying down a board presence the turn after you just helped your opponent ramp.
These are just some random ideas, but you've already given me some inspiration to take a crack of my own at this deck, and maybe I'll post my version of it later.
I think if you are playing a ramp deck then you need to be playing at least 24 lands. The whole point of ramp is to get big threats out early, but the only way you're going to be able to do so is if you hit your land drop every turn. I have a mono-green ramp deck that I've been fine-tuning for years, and for the longest time I had it at 22/23 lands. Most of the time I didn't have mana problems, but every now and then I would start missing my land drops around turn 3 or 4, and it really hurt my board presence when I had to start spending mana on my ramp spells just to get a land onto the battlefield for the turn. I've been using 24 lands in my deck for the last couple of years now, and those extra 2 lands have REALLY HELPED. I've never had trouble dropping lands every turn, and it's something I no longer have to worry about. Definitely suggest you consider trying 24 lands as well
Perhaps I'm missing something, but I'm not really seeing what's so good about Chord of Calling You don't have a lot of early drop creatures, and the ones that you do already tap for mana, so it's redundant with convoke. At 9 mana, you can search for a 6 cmc creature at best. Compared to an entwined Tooth and Nail, where 9 mana allows you to plop emrakul and progenitus onto the battlefield. Chord of Calling seems so underwhelming in this deck compared to Tooth, is there a specific reason you're running it that I've overlooked? Otherwise I would personally just dump the Chord and up the Tooth and Nail count to 3 or 4.
Fusion Elemental seems underwhelming. It's an 8/8 for 5 mana, sure, but it has no evasion, and it dies to a lot of direct removal. It also seems unlikely that you would be able to get it out early enough to put pressure on the opponent because of it's difficult casting cost. I would replace these with a playset of Primeval Titan.
Prime Time is great because he's a nice threat on his own and immediately helps you ramp, which is what this deck wants to do. So even if he gets killed right away, at least you have more mana now to cast even bigger threats. Imagine plopping down prime time on turn 4. Immediately you get 2 lands to enter the battlefield, so you've effectively ramped from 6 mana sources to 8 mana sources on turn 4. At this point, even if Prime Time does get remove, who cares? Turn 5, plop down your land drop for the turn for a total of 9 mana sources, cast your entwined Tooth and Nail, and win the game!
Those were the big things I saw, though there were a few smaller things I would probably change (fix up your manabase so you don't have to rely on Primsatic Omen, remove the 2 explores unless you are playing 24 or more lands otherwise you're going to find you're basically paying 2 for a cantrip most of the time, maybe khalni could be removed for more efficient ramp that ramps right away? Either that or put in more support for khalni so you can consistently pop it quicker).
Hope that helps. I've been wanting to make a progenitus deck for modern for some time, so I'm happy to see an attempt. Good luck with the deck!
Some great advice here! Additionally, I would suggest upping your land count to at least 24. My favorite casual deck also happens to be a mono-green deck, and I've been tweaking it for years, trying to reach perfection. I've found from countless games and experiences that 22 lands is just too low to hit your land drops continously, which is really important in the early game, especially for a ramp deck.
This doesn't seem like the kind of deck that needs to worry about setting up a defense, rather it looks like it wants to be aggressive and get a jump start on enemies with massive wurms before they have a chance to set up their board presence. In the event that you'd still like a defense, consider running mana accelerant walls. Neptune suggest overgrown battlement. Another good choice, and personal favorite of mine, is Wall of Roots.
Finally, consider tweaking your mana accel. As Neptune suggested, a playset of Llanowar Elves is always a fine choice for mono-green. Joraga Treespeaker is also really good. Playing it on turn 1 will gaurantee you 5 mana by turn 3 (assuming you hit all of your land drops), which is really good for a single card.
Also, have you considered throwing in a single copy of Crush of Wurms?
Aurochs is my favorite deck! I could go on and on about Aurochs, but I typed up a nice little post a while back, feel free to check it out here when you get a chance:
Basically, there are two ways you can go with the deck. You can go traditional aurochs, just playing 4 of each of them and lots of ramp/pump, or you can do something wonky with them. Personally I play an Aurochs deck focused around Wild Pair. I've heard of others using other means such as Momir Vig, Simic Visionary or even MirrorWeave! If you're looking for some suggestions to go a wild pair route then feel free to let me know or PM and I'd be happy to share my build with you!
Finally, some final suggestions I strongly urge you to consider:
1. Go SNOW. Seriously, Aurochs are weak on their own, snow provides great support at practically no drawback.
2. Stonebrow, Krosan Hero It's been said before, but I'll say it again, this guy is pretty much auto-include in Aurochs
3. Whether you're for changelings or not, I feel Game-trail Changeling is similar enough in shape and size to be considered an Aurochs (for flavor reasons). Might want to at least consider running a few copies of this guy if you're short on Aurochs
4. Joraga Treespeaker is AMAZING ramp in this deck. The card alone can help you get Aurochs Herd out by turn 4. That's simply amazing. Automatic 4 of, you won't regret it!
Personally I think Glory of Warfare is the kind of card that fits more of a support role in a deck (rather then build an entire deck around it) but I know that feeling of seeing a card and just knowing you have to do something with it. I actually feel the same way about this card myself!
Anyway, as many have pointed out, this is a great card in a deck that cares about having a big army. If you are making Glory of Warfare the main centerpiece of the deck then you might want to consider going with either a token strategy or using good creatures that get even better with Warfare out. This card is also pretty nice with creatures that have vigilance, especially in multiplayer games, as it allows you to attack with the +2/+0 bonus AND go on the defense with the +0/+2 bonus with the same creatures. Personally, I think it would be more fun to just play a bunch of good midsize red/white creatures with vigilance like Serra Avenger and Cerodon Yearling. If you decide to focus on tokens, then you're most likely going be needing other cards to pump your creatures, as I feel most tokens will get wiped out easily without a toughness boost when attacking. More often then not your friend will be finding him or herself holding back from attacking if Glory of Warfare is their only token pump. Consider running a few Intangible Virtue, since it's token pump and gives Vigilance, which is always a nice bonus when combined with glory. Also, Captain of the Watch is pretty nuts with Glory of Warfare, he seems like the perfect card for this deck. This could also be a nice excuse to perhaps consider shaping the deck into a soldier themed Boros deck!
So, to summarize:Glory of Warfare is a support card, not a build around me card, to help give creatures that extra "mmmph!" If played with tokens, make sure you play other pump spells, otherwise you are going to be deterred from attacking with your vulnerable 3/1s. Also consider playing with creatures that have vigilance to get the most out of Glory of Warfare
Good luck with the deck, I hope your friend finds a direction to take it in!
I have a Searing Meditation deck that I've been playing/revamping for years now, so I might be able to offer a few suggestions based on my experience.
The long version/ramblings:
Looking at your deck reminds me of one of my earlier builds; It's clear that there is a heavy focus on Tamanoa and abusing her with board sweepers. I've found that while Tamanoa and Searing Meditation have great synergy with each other, on their own they care about accomplishing different things. Searing Meditation only cares about whether you gain life or not, but Tamanoa want to play with cards that care about your life total, such as Ageless Entity and Test of Endurance. Since you're playing with Glittering Wish you could regulate a searing meditation to your sideboard if you ever decide you need it, but since your deck is heavily focused on Tamanoa shenanigans, I don't think you should be playing Searing Meditation main deck.
Think of it like this way. Imagine this scenario. You've got a Tamanoa, and Searing Meditation on the board, and there are lots of creatures on the field. You play Firespout Firespout and gain 50 life. If you had an Ageless Sentinels in play you could have a 54/54 right now on a cleared board. A Test of Endurance would win you the game next turn. A Well of lost dreams. But a Searing Meditation? You get a couple shocks out, and that's it. Seems kind of underwhelming compared to the other options, no?
To summarize, Tamanoa is great fun, but your current build suggests you're focusing entirely around her. Therefore, Searing Meditation should be a plan B or C sideboard card. Now if you happen to decide maybe you want to focus more on Searing Meditation over Tamanoa then that's a completely different deck, but Tamanoa can still play a nice little support role. Feel free to pm or let me know if you're interested in pushing towards making Searing Meditation your main focus of the deck, as that's how my deck's been setup for the past couple of years, so I have a LOT of suggestions for such a deck.
One last thing I will say though. Regardless if you play heavy support for Tamanoa or play Tamanoa as a support card, Painlands work very well as a means to trigger lifegain for Searing Meditation, and at instant speed! They can also put a charge counter on Sun droplet if you're opponent is refusing to attack. Consider adding a few to the deck.
EDIT: The short version: Half the cards in your deck work well with Searing Meditation, but not Tamanoa, and the other half work well with Tamanoa, but not Searing Meditation. Consider focusing your strategy on one of these cards, with the other playing a minor support role. I think you'll find your deck will run alot smoother as well as provide you with more card slots for answers/removal/etc. Let me know if you're looking to push more towards Searing Meditation as this is the build I've been playing for years (and am even trying to push into modern at the moment) so I can offer lots of suggestions here! Otherwise, if you go with Tamanoa as your main focus then consider adding cards like Ageless Entity and Test of Endurance as the main win condition, and some other means to gain massive amounts of life other than Tamanoa as a backup.
Regarding counterspells, I don't think they will work as well as you think they would in this deck, at least as far as protecting your creatures go. I believe once your creatures are targeted, their triggered ability goes on the stack, so even if you countered their removal spell, they would still die. Still probably not a bad idea to run some aggressive counterspells, (maybe Unified Will since you're so creature based?) but just thought I'd bring that up. If you're looking for a way to be able to protect your creatures, I suggest Curfew. Think of it like Rescue but with the added bonus of your opponent having to bounce a creature as well. It also lets you recast Phantasmal Image if there's something better to target at a later time in the game.
As far as other suggestions go, I'm a fan of Veiled Sentry As I find it either deters my opponents from casting their bigger creature spells when they could otherwise, or they say screw it and you get a 2/2 or 3/3 for 1 mana. Adaptive Automaton is almost an auto-include in here as he's essentially another illusion lord. Halcyon Glaze is a cool card, but I've found that it doesn't work very well in aggressive builds. Usually you want to be plopping down as many creatures as you can, but the glaze limits you to playing one creature each turn to ensure you get in with the 4/4 flyer. He might do better in your build or a control build, but in a super aggressive he has trouble fitting in
On a similar note, I've also never understood why Paradise Mantle is so much more expensive (popular) over Springleaf Drum, especially considering that the drum sees tournament play in affinity. Both spells cost 1 mana before you can start using their ability, but drum can let you add mana right away, AND you don't have ever worry about paying extra mana to re-equip. Yet paradise plume is a $2+ card!
I don't understand, someone please enlighten me
While gambit and rancor synergize well with infect, the nice thing about Cathedral is that it's land and "technically" it doesn't take up a card slot. I say "technically" though because almost every infect deck wants to run a playset of Inkmoth, so I think most infect decks would be hard pressed to throw in another playset of colorless lands. CoW's price still seems to be around what it was when the set first came out, if not a little lower, but given the preceding situation above I don't see CoW exploding any time soon, at least not through infect. Unless infect is ok with going mono-color, and I don't know if there is enough support for infect to go mono, in standard at least.
Having said that...turn 1 Glistener Elf, turn 2 Cathedral of War, Rancor seems pretty sick.
Exactly. It's also very rare that Sun Droplet runs dry since I can refill it with Battlefield Forge. If I'm really desperate for life gain triggers, I can always Searing Meditation myself to get a few counters on the droplet.
Interesting sideboard idea. I don't have time to explore this at the moment, but I'll definitely consider it for the future.
I've adjusted my deck a bit, and edited the original post (-1 ghost-lit, -1 faith's shield, +2 o-ring, so I at least have a chance against some combo decks game 1). I'm also taking out the walls from my sideboard, so I have 4 slots open. Was thinking of trying to fit the following cards somewhere in my sb:
Graffdigger's Cage: Stops pod/rites decks, but easily susceptible to removal
- Beckon Apparition
- Purify the Grave
- Ravenous Trap
: Seems like excellent hate for rites and pod. If I'm understanding correctly, this can stop melira pod from going infinite by exiling Kitchen FInks or Murderous Redcap from going infinite by playing any of these in response to the wither trigger.Ricochet Trap: This seems like a great answer against blue control. I think I'm going to try and fit a couple of these in the sideboard at the very least.
I'm planning on testing this deck out tomorrow at a Modern tournament Pastimes is holding. It's my first modern experience so I don't expect to do terribly well, but I'm hoping it will give me some insight into what works well and what needs improvement. I'll be sure to post my findings, but if anyone has any other suggestions, mainboard or sideboard, that they think would be excellent tech/hate for the current modern meta it'd be really appreciated!
I recall seeing a few Martyr-Proc builds attempting this, but I didn't really follow up with it, but I think it could work as a nice alternative wincon. I wouldn't play more then 3 Searing Meditations in the deck though, since you don't want to really draw it until you have the mana to abuse it. The only reason I'm running 4 maindeck is because my build is pretty dependent, though I myself have been switching back between running 3 and 4. Feel free to post your decklist if you fit meditation into your deck. It's a direction I've thought about going a few times myself, I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with.
Glad to hear you had fun piloting it. It's a fun deck to play for sure, not so much to play against from what I've heard :). Comforting to hear that it did well against aggro. Out of curiosity, what aggressive decks/builds were you pit up against?
Interesting choice using Lightning Bolt and Earthquake over Lightning Helix. Does it really help with the tempo? I've found that I'm usually ok with paying an extra mana for the helix, even if it's a turn later, since the life gain usually offsets any damage you may have taken the previous turn. Late game, the life gain from helix can serve as a useful resource still, where-as I feel bolt is not as useful at this point in the game. A board sweeper does seem like a good idea though, I'll consider something at least for the sideboard.
Combo does seem to be a big problem for the deck. The tron matchup seems rough since there really isn't anything to sideboard in against it in either of our decks. Blood Moon and Graffdigger's Cage can slow their deck down, which might give us enough time to get them down to 0 with pridemate, finks, and helix. I am leaning more towards using cage in the sideboard since it's cheaper and a little more versatile in stopping decks that specifically give this deck problems.
Actually, I've had my eye on Hide//Seek for a while. It's Disenchant, but it can also be used to wreck combo decks by searching for and exiling their singletons. The lifegain is also a bonus in this deck. Only problem is that the card is black, so I would have to splash black, and I don't know if it's worth putting shocks/fetches and paying the extra life just to use this (seemingly) amazing sideboard card. It does however open the possibility to splashing other black cards so maybe there's something worth looking at here?
EDIT: For some reason I though graffdigger's stopped players from searching their library. So yeah...Blood moon would probably be the better choice against Tron. As long as they can't ramp into their Eldrazi this deck should be able to hold off me thinks.
4x Clifftop Retreat
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Kabira Crossroads
3x Mountains
7x Plains
//Creatures [8]
4x Ajani's Pridemate
4x Kitchen Finks
4x Sun Droplet
4x Pristine Talisman
3x Well of Lost Dreams
//Enchantments [6]
2x Recumbent Bliss
2x Oblivion Ring
4x Searing Meditation
//Planeswalkers [2]
2x Ajani Vengeant
//Instants[6]
4x Lightning Helix
2x Path to Exile
2x Path to Exile
2x Recumbent Bliss
3x Leyline of Sanctity
4x Disenchant
4x Open slots (graveyard hate?)
The general idea is to survive long enough until you can contain the board, then have your opponent locked down from playing any creatures with Searing Meditation. From there, you can just start shocking your opponent to the face with Searing Meditation or swing in with a large Ajani's Pridemate. A brief overview of how the deck generally plays out (from my experiences) throughout a game can be seen below:
Early Game (Turns 1 - 4):
Mid Game (5 - 7):
Late Game(8+):
The sideboard is pretty self explanatory, though needs a little work. Though this deck is geared towards handling mostly created based/aggro decks, I don't know how well it will hold up against the top modern aggro decks. This deck is quite weak to combo however, as there are very few answers. I was thinking of replacing the walls with 4x Graffdigger's Cage As a way to stop melira-pod or any recursive strategies, but I'm not sure if there's something better that can be in my sideboard. What I'm looking for here are suggestions for mainboard and sideboard that could help this deck when pitted against the top tier decks. I realize this isn't a tier 1 deck by any means, but I'd like to push this deck to it's limit. I've done a lot of goldfishing and casual playtesting and the deck's done very well. It works fine and the draws are pretty good. I just don't know how well it can do in modern. I Any suggestions are appreciated! If there's interest, I can discuss the inner workings of the deck in further detail.
Looking at it, I don't think it would work. Since the damage is prevented, we would not receive soldier tokens, and we certainly don't want that!
This guy does seem pretty nuts with Darien, but even for EDH it's a really expensive safeguard. Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant Essentially do the same thing (you take damage, but gain the life back so it's like your life never changed), except they only cost 1 mana, and both are tutorable by Ranger of Eos, which is a staple in this deck. Still, I could see some decks running this card as well, it's all personal preference really.
I realize I'm bumping a rather old topic, but it is the primer, and I found a new card that I think is really sweet tech for this deck, so I figured it was worth the bump for others to know about and discuss. The card I am referring to is Sivvi's Valor. It is essentially Jade Monolith, but in instant form. There are some advantages here:
1. Since it's an instant, no one will see it coming. Compared to Jade, where they know if they deal combat damage it will be redirected to you.
2. You can play it for FREE. Since 99% of the time you will be playing this with Darien on the field, you can just tap him to pay the alternate cost of the spell. This makes the spell even MORE elusive and sneaky!
3. In 1 vs 1 games you would be using this on one of your own attacking creatures to redirect to you. In multiplayer games this becomes a lot more interesting. you can use it to save someone's creature from damage, while netting some tokens for yourself!
4. Even without Darien out, you could always use it to save a key creature from combat, at the cost of life of course.
Not sure what R/G build you're playing exactly, but Leyline of Vitality might be what you're looking for. It's only really good if it's in your opening hand, otherwise you'd probably be dead before you even got the chance to cast it against RDW, but in a heavy creature build it's a one-sided Essence Warden that could help put your creatures out of bolt/shock range.
Primal Command Might be a little slow, but again, depending on your build could prove to be a nice fit.
Huntmaser of the Fells if you're not already running him. Not that he's really played for the life gain, but still, he gains you life and gives you 2 bodies to block with.
Gnaw to the Bone is just straight life gain. If you're playing a heavy creature deck though, it might be just what you need.
Excited to see how this deck turns out!
Hyugafan gave some really great advice. Cabal Therapy seems really sick with Veteran Explorer, but if you don't have a playgroup you consistently play with, or a meta isn't really present, then it can be hard to use.
Not sure what I think of Trapmaker's Snare in this deck. It's basically like playing 8 Archive Traps, but it still feels a little underwhelming since the only card that forces a search is Collective Voyage. If you run a sideboard, you could throw a couple of different trap cards to swap into your deck so you can fetch them when needed.
Another idea might be to shift from black to white, since you can find alot of similarly functional cards in white. White has Wrath of God, which is always good, but even better is Path to Exile, which is not only great spot removal, but fits into this whole theme. It puts opponents in an awkward spot because they have to decide whether they want to take the risk of searching for a basic and risk getting archive trapped or not.
Finally, the deck feels like it could use a little more control. Things will probably get out of hand really quick if we're helping our opponent ramp, throwing in a few counterspells might not be a bad idea. Maybe even Silence if you end up playing white, as to prevent your opponent from laying down a board presence the turn after you just helped your opponent ramp.
These are just some random ideas, but you've already given me some inspiration to take a crack of my own at this deck, and maybe I'll post my version of it later.
I think if you are playing a ramp deck then you need to be playing at least 24 lands. The whole point of ramp is to get big threats out early, but the only way you're going to be able to do so is if you hit your land drop every turn. I have a mono-green ramp deck that I've been fine-tuning for years, and for the longest time I had it at 22/23 lands. Most of the time I didn't have mana problems, but every now and then I would start missing my land drops around turn 3 or 4, and it really hurt my board presence when I had to start spending mana on my ramp spells just to get a land onto the battlefield for the turn. I've been using 24 lands in my deck for the last couple of years now, and those extra 2 lands have REALLY HELPED. I've never had trouble dropping lands every turn, and it's something I no longer have to worry about. Definitely suggest you consider trying 24 lands as well
Perhaps I'm missing something, but I'm not really seeing what's so good about Chord of Calling You don't have a lot of early drop creatures, and the ones that you do already tap for mana, so it's redundant with convoke. At 9 mana, you can search for a 6 cmc creature at best. Compared to an entwined Tooth and Nail, where 9 mana allows you to plop emrakul and progenitus onto the battlefield. Chord of Calling seems so underwhelming in this deck compared to Tooth, is there a specific reason you're running it that I've overlooked? Otherwise I would personally just dump the Chord and up the Tooth and Nail count to 3 or 4.
Fusion Elemental seems underwhelming. It's an 8/8 for 5 mana, sure, but it has no evasion, and it dies to a lot of direct removal. It also seems unlikely that you would be able to get it out early enough to put pressure on the opponent because of it's difficult casting cost. I would replace these with a playset of Primeval Titan.
Prime Time is great because he's a nice threat on his own and immediately helps you ramp, which is what this deck wants to do. So even if he gets killed right away, at least you have more mana now to cast even bigger threats. Imagine plopping down prime time on turn 4. Immediately you get 2 lands to enter the battlefield, so you've effectively ramped from 6 mana sources to 8 mana sources on turn 4. At this point, even if Prime Time does get remove, who cares? Turn 5, plop down your land drop for the turn for a total of 9 mana sources, cast your entwined Tooth and Nail, and win the game!
Those were the big things I saw, though there were a few smaller things I would probably change (fix up your manabase so you don't have to rely on Primsatic Omen, remove the 2 explores unless you are playing 24 or more lands otherwise you're going to find you're basically paying 2 for a cantrip most of the time, maybe khalni could be removed for more efficient ramp that ramps right away? Either that or put in more support for khalni so you can consistently pop it quicker).
Hope that helps. I've been wanting to make a progenitus deck for modern for some time, so I'm happy to see an attempt. Good luck with the deck!
This doesn't seem like the kind of deck that needs to worry about setting up a defense, rather it looks like it wants to be aggressive and get a jump start on enemies with massive wurms before they have a chance to set up their board presence. In the event that you'd still like a defense, consider running mana accelerant walls. Neptune suggest overgrown battlement. Another good choice, and personal favorite of mine, is Wall of Roots.
Finally, consider tweaking your mana accel. As Neptune suggested, a playset of Llanowar Elves is always a fine choice for mono-green. Joraga Treespeaker is also really good. Playing it on turn 1 will gaurantee you 5 mana by turn 3 (assuming you hit all of your land drops), which is really good for a single card.
Also, have you considered throwing in a single copy of Crush of Wurms?
Basically, there are two ways you can go with the deck. You can go traditional aurochs, just playing 4 of each of them and lots of ramp/pump, or you can do something wonky with them. Personally I play an Aurochs deck focused around Wild Pair. I've heard of others using other means such as Momir Vig, Simic Visionary or even MirrorWeave! If you're looking for some suggestions to go a wild pair route then feel free to let me know or PM and I'd be happy to share my build with you!
Finally, some final suggestions I strongly urge you to consider:
1. Go SNOW. Seriously, Aurochs are weak on their own, snow provides great support at practically no drawback.
2. Stonebrow, Krosan Hero It's been said before, but I'll say it again, this guy is pretty much auto-include in Aurochs
3. Whether you're for changelings or not, I feel Game-trail Changeling is similar enough in shape and size to be considered an Aurochs (for flavor reasons). Might want to at least consider running a few copies of this guy if you're short on Aurochs
4. Joraga Treespeaker is AMAZING ramp in this deck. The card alone can help you get Aurochs Herd out by turn 4. That's simply amazing. Automatic 4 of, you won't regret it!
Anyway, as many have pointed out, this is a great card in a deck that cares about having a big army. If you are making Glory of Warfare the main centerpiece of the deck then you might want to consider going with either a token strategy or using good creatures that get even better with Warfare out. This card is also pretty nice with creatures that have vigilance, especially in multiplayer games, as it allows you to attack with the +2/+0 bonus AND go on the defense with the +0/+2 bonus with the same creatures. Personally, I think it would be more fun to just play a bunch of good midsize red/white creatures with vigilance like Serra Avenger and Cerodon Yearling. If you decide to focus on tokens, then you're most likely going be needing other cards to pump your creatures, as I feel most tokens will get wiped out easily without a toughness boost when attacking. More often then not your friend will be finding him or herself holding back from attacking if Glory of Warfare is their only token pump. Consider running a few Intangible Virtue, since it's token pump and gives Vigilance, which is always a nice bonus when combined with glory. Also, Captain of the Watch is pretty nuts with Glory of Warfare, he seems like the perfect card for this deck. This could also be a nice excuse to perhaps consider shaping the deck into a soldier themed Boros deck!
So, to summarize: Glory of Warfare is a support card, not a build around me card, to help give creatures that extra "mmmph!" If played with tokens, make sure you play other pump spells, otherwise you are going to be deterred from attacking with your vulnerable 3/1s. Also consider playing with creatures that have vigilance to get the most out of Glory of Warfare
Good luck with the deck, I hope your friend finds a direction to take it in!
The long version/ramblings:
Looking at your deck reminds me of one of my earlier builds; It's clear that there is a heavy focus on Tamanoa and abusing her with board sweepers. I've found that while Tamanoa and Searing Meditation have great synergy with each other, on their own they care about accomplishing different things. Searing Meditation only cares about whether you gain life or not, but Tamanoa want to play with cards that care about your life total, such as Ageless Entity and Test of Endurance. Since you're playing with Glittering Wish you could regulate a searing meditation to your sideboard if you ever decide you need it, but since your deck is heavily focused on Tamanoa shenanigans, I don't think you should be playing Searing Meditation main deck.
Think of it like this way. Imagine this scenario. You've got a Tamanoa, and Searing Meditation on the board, and there are lots of creatures on the field. You play Firespout Firespout and gain 50 life. If you had an Ageless Sentinels in play you could have a 54/54 right now on a cleared board. A Test of Endurance would win you the game next turn. A Well of lost dreams. But a Searing Meditation? You get a couple shocks out, and that's it. Seems kind of underwhelming compared to the other options, no?
To summarize, Tamanoa is great fun, but your current build suggests you're focusing entirely around her. Therefore, Searing Meditation should be a plan B or C sideboard card. Now if you happen to decide maybe you want to focus more on Searing Meditation over Tamanoa then that's a completely different deck, but Tamanoa can still play a nice little support role. Feel free to pm or let me know if you're interested in pushing towards making Searing Meditation your main focus of the deck, as that's how my deck's been setup for the past couple of years, so I have a LOT of suggestions for such a deck.
One last thing I will say though. Regardless if you play heavy support for Tamanoa or play Tamanoa as a support card, Painlands work very well as a means to trigger lifegain for Searing Meditation, and at instant speed! They can also put a charge counter on Sun droplet if you're opponent is refusing to attack. Consider adding a few to the deck.
EDIT: The short version: Half the cards in your deck work well with Searing Meditation, but not Tamanoa, and the other half work well with Tamanoa, but not Searing Meditation. Consider focusing your strategy on one of these cards, with the other playing a minor support role. I think you'll find your deck will run alot smoother as well as provide you with more card slots for answers/removal/etc. Let me know if you're looking to push more towards Searing Meditation as this is the build I've been playing for years (and am even trying to push into modern at the moment) so I can offer lots of suggestions here! Otherwise, if you go with Tamanoa as your main focus then consider adding cards like Ageless Entity and Test of Endurance as the main win condition, and some other means to gain massive amounts of life other than Tamanoa as a backup.
As far as other suggestions go, I'm a fan of Veiled Sentry As I find it either deters my opponents from casting their bigger creature spells when they could otherwise, or they say screw it and you get a 2/2 or 3/3 for 1 mana. Adaptive Automaton is almost an auto-include in here as he's essentially another illusion lord. Halcyon Glaze is a cool card, but I've found that it doesn't work very well in aggressive builds. Usually you want to be plopping down as many creatures as you can, but the glaze limits you to playing one creature each turn to ensure you get in with the 4/4 flyer. He might do better in your build or a control build, but in a super aggressive he has trouble fitting in