By itself, Kamahl's Druidic Vow seems to be worse than Deploy the Gatewatch in my opinion, and we have already cut deploy the gatewatch. You'd have to play it for at least x=4 to hit most of our planeswalkers, which at 6cmc each, deploy is better. Of course Kamahl is better when going into extremely high mana like x=6-8, but at that cost, I'm not sure the game state would be favorable. However.. May be playable with oath of teferi in deck.
The new Oath of Teferi is absolutely interesting, and I think is worth testing. Decisions would have to be made between cutting the combo entirely, reducing it, or maintaining the combo planeswalkers. With Oath, I could see a wide gameplan on tokens being quite viable. Garruk wildspeaker for example, can +1 and then immediately ulti on the 2nd activation. The main benefit of oath is a tempo advantage as compared to doubling season, but you lose a little bit of the combo finish.
I'll try to go through my list and reevaluate all of the planeswalkers with oath now instead of doubling season.
Personally I don't think the new teferi is ever going to be better than gideon jura. Of course the idea with teferi is that he draws you a card and immediately lets you hold up a 2cmc spell to protect him. But he feels too weak when playing him into a board you don't already have control over.
The thing about Djeru is that if we already have doubling season, almost any of our planeswalker draws can end the game, so its preferable to just have draw cards or more walkers
I'm super interested in running As Foretold in this deck. From what I understand, ewitness + cryptic will keep your hand full, and as foretold will eventually let you power out this synergy faster.
You'd probably have to run ancestral vision alongside it though
I've been loving this deck so far. Kiora has been overperforming for me in some matchups that come down to a race. I think it's important to run at least one copy of her to find with jace, in case you get into a situation where emrakul won't end the game. e.g., I played a game vs titan breach // scapeshift, and he had 2 primetimes + 12 or so lands in play. I had doubling season on board, and could either cast kiora or nahiri from my hand. Nahiri would let emrakul get in for 15, but he would just sac 6 lands and have lethal next turn, so I used kiora instead to wipe out his primetimes and swing with the 6 8/8s next turns.
Having at least 1 bant tamiyo is super important for the case where you can jace ulti, but emrakul is in hand.
I'm still trying to figure out the best sideboard options for the deck though. Nicol bolas can be a good option vs an ensnaring bridge deck. Possibly rest in peace // stony silence as well.
What do you guys think of Sacred cat? It is a super resilient creature that comes out early, and has good synergies with ajani's pridemate and soul sisters.
Both games were rather unfortunate for him, so I didnt get to learn much about thhe matchup. Game 1 I bolted his delver, and played a few lingering souls and bitterblossoms for the win. He got incredibly manaflooded, not doing much other than 2-3 counterspells. Game 2, he was stuck on 2 land, and I thoughtseized his delver away.
1-2 vs UR twin
This was the most fun matchup of the day for me. I got a bit unlucky with draws but it was still an interactive set.
Game 1 I went really wide with tokens, getting bitterblossom, lingering souls, and sorin. An early inquisition took his serum visions, stopping him from digging for the combo.
Game 2 I brought in slaughter games and rakdos charm, while he sided aggressively against tokens, bringing in some anger of the gods. However, this game I drew only discard, removal, and butchers. A turn 4 slaughter games hit all 4 of his splinter twins from deck. I thought this was a sure win after that, but he ended up wearing me down with a large pile of snapcasters and lightning bolts.
Game 3 I got mana flooded, and lost to snaps and bolts again.
2-0 vs mono green Elves
These were the shortest games all day.
Game 1 he gets a pretty nutty hand, dropping llanowar, heritage druid, nettle sentinel, and elvish archdruid by his turn 3. Unfortunately for him, I drew my 1 pyroclasm and got a 4 for 1 with it before he could play anything bigger. He scooped immediately.
Game 2 I brought in the rest of the pyroclasms, and he ended up not having anything to board in against me. Again, he ended up scooping to a pyroclasm, though it was just a 2 for 1 this time. I sat at a table waiting for the rest of the 40 minutes in the round to go by.
Last game my opponent didnt show up
This was the first day I tried playing with Thoughtseize and Inquisitions, and I have to say I'll never cut them. I'm sure most of you already knew this though.
Butcher of the Horde is still and incredibly strong beater that can only really be ran in our deck. He synergizes strongly with bitterblossom and lingering souls. If I were to cut the bitterblossoms, I might choose the change the butchers as well though.
Pyroclasm was the big blowout card for me today though, netting me a 2-0 by itself.
Soulfire Grandmaster has been an allstar in my deck as well. Running 2 of him alongside lingering souls tends to keep our turns full of value for almost the entire game, even in grindier matchups. Once you can start recurring a lightning helix with him every turn, it's hard for most decks to come back either due to the life lead you establish with it, or simply due to all of their creatures getting bolted. Turns out that gaining 6 life with helix is pretty strong.
Not only is it good in grindier midrange matchups, but having a 2/2 lifelinker is solid enough against aggro, and turns bolts into some insane value against these matchups.
One thing I'm not sure about with him, is the number of burn spells to run. Should we cut down on path to exiles and terminates? Maindeck a pyroclasm/anger?
Unfortunately, the real synergy in this list won't happen until at least turn 4 with Resto Angel, or turn 5 with Kiki / Reveillark. Thus, we need to rely on our low costed cards to progress the game past turn 4. Thankfully, all of the <3 cmc cards in the deck will do something to make the game longer. Wall of omens can block, and hopefully draw into some removal. Fulminator Mage can possibly keep an opponent off a color that they need. Kitchen Finks gains life and can block twice with some decent damage to back it up. And of course we have our tried and true set of Lightning Bolts and discard suite. Kolaghan's Command can often 2-for-1, and can also be used to bring back Fulminator Mage or Kitchen Finks.
Aven Riftwatcher could be considered over Kitchen Finks for this list, since it works as a Reveillark target, and survives Pyroclasm if you choose to run that mainboard or sideboard. Can also be a bit easier on the mana, since Kitchen Finks, Fulminator Mage, and Kiki-Jiki are all somewhat mana intensive. However, it has significantly less power, and doesn't have persist like Kitchen Finks does. A bit worse when you have to play a grindy game though, because the vanishing counters will become rather significant.
One strong card in White that we have access to is restoration angel. If we built our creature base around this theme, I wonder what the deck could look like.
The new Oath of Teferi is absolutely interesting, and I think is worth testing. Decisions would have to be made between cutting the combo entirely, reducing it, or maintaining the combo planeswalkers. With Oath, I could see a wide gameplan on tokens being quite viable. Garruk wildspeaker for example, can +1 and then immediately ulti on the 2nd activation. The main benefit of oath is a tempo advantage as compared to doubling season, but you lose a little bit of the combo finish.
I'll try to go through my list and reevaluate all of the planeswalkers with oath now instead of doubling season.
You'd probably have to run ancestral vision alongside it though
Having at least 1 bant tamiyo is super important for the case where you can jace ulti, but emrakul is in hand.
I'm still trying to figure out the best sideboard options for the deck though. Nicol bolas can be a good option vs an ensnaring bridge deck. Possibly rest in peace // stony silence as well.
4 Butcher of the horde
1 Brimaz
4 Lightning bolt
3 Lightning Helix
2 Terminate
2 Crackling Doom
1 Kolaghan's command
1 pyroclasm
2 Thoughtseize
4 Lingering Souls
3 Bitterblossom
1 elspeth Knight-errant
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1 Sword of War and Peace
24 lands
3 pyroclasm
1 zealous persecution
3 wear // tear
1 wrath of god
2 doom blade
2 timely reinforcements
1 rakdos charm
1 slaughter games
1 lightning helix
2-0 vs grixis delver
Both games were rather unfortunate for him, so I didnt get to learn much about thhe matchup. Game 1 I bolted his delver, and played a few lingering souls and bitterblossoms for the win. He got incredibly manaflooded, not doing much other than 2-3 counterspells. Game 2, he was stuck on 2 land, and I thoughtseized his delver away.
1-2 vs UR twin
This was the most fun matchup of the day for me. I got a bit unlucky with draws but it was still an interactive set.
Game 1 I went really wide with tokens, getting bitterblossom, lingering souls, and sorin. An early inquisition took his serum visions, stopping him from digging for the combo.
Game 2 I brought in slaughter games and rakdos charm, while he sided aggressively against tokens, bringing in some anger of the gods. However, this game I drew only discard, removal, and butchers. A turn 4 slaughter games hit all 4 of his splinter twins from deck. I thought this was a sure win after that, but he ended up wearing me down with a large pile of snapcasters and lightning bolts.
Game 3 I got mana flooded, and lost to snaps and bolts again.
2-0 vs mono green Elves
These were the shortest games all day.
Game 1 he gets a pretty nutty hand, dropping llanowar, heritage druid, nettle sentinel, and elvish archdruid by his turn 3. Unfortunately for him, I drew my 1 pyroclasm and got a 4 for 1 with it before he could play anything bigger. He scooped immediately.
Game 2 I brought in the rest of the pyroclasms, and he ended up not having anything to board in against me. Again, he ended up scooping to a pyroclasm, though it was just a 2 for 1 this time. I sat at a table waiting for the rest of the 40 minutes in the round to go by.
Last game my opponent didnt show up
This was the first day I tried playing with Thoughtseize and Inquisitions, and I have to say I'll never cut them. I'm sure most of you already knew this though.
Butcher of the Horde is still and incredibly strong beater that can only really be ran in our deck. He synergizes strongly with bitterblossom and lingering souls. If I were to cut the bitterblossoms, I might choose the change the butchers as well though.
Pyroclasm was the big blowout card for me today though, netting me a 2-0 by itself.
Also what does everyone think about running soulfire as a 2of vs a 3of?
Not only is it good in grindier midrange matchups, but having a 2/2 lifelinker is solid enough against aggro, and turns bolts into some insane value against these matchups.
One thing I'm not sure about with him, is the number of burn spells to run. Should we cut down on path to exiles and terminates? Maindeck a pyroclasm/anger?
Wall of omen and finks are probably the best targets atm, with the possibility of blade splicer.
murderous redcap is also similar to avalanche riders, but stands by itself a little better. Also fun with reveillark.
We really would want some nice 2-3 cmc resto targets that can still stand by themselves.
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Just drafted up a quick maindeck list inspired by the Reveillark comment from Carl.
4 Wall of Omens
4 Fulminator Mage
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Restoration Angel
2 Reveillark
2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
2 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Lingering Souls
9 Instant
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Terminate
2 Kolaghan's Command
As Carl mentioned, Reveillark gets extra value from Wall of Omens and Fulminator Mage. Restoration Angel can be surprisingly effective on her own, simply to flash in as a blocker, or make a removal spell fizzle. It also synergizes with Reveillark, Wall of Omens, Kitchen Finks, and has an infinite combo with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. Kiki works well with Reveillark to bring back most creatures in the deck, and also can do some serious damage with fulminator mage, destroying a non-basic every turn.
Unfortunately, the real synergy in this list won't happen until at least turn 4 with Resto Angel, or turn 5 with Kiki / Reveillark. Thus, we need to rely on our low costed cards to progress the game past turn 4. Thankfully, all of the <3 cmc cards in the deck will do something to make the game longer. Wall of omens can block, and hopefully draw into some removal. Fulminator Mage can possibly keep an opponent off a color that they need. Kitchen Finks gains life and can block twice with some decent damage to back it up. And of course we have our tried and true set of Lightning Bolts and discard suite. Kolaghan's Command can often 2-for-1, and can also be used to bring back Fulminator Mage or Kitchen Finks.
Aven Riftwatcher could be considered over Kitchen Finks for this list, since it works as a Reveillark target, and survives Pyroclasm if you choose to run that mainboard or sideboard. Can also be a bit easier on the mana, since Kitchen Finks, Fulminator Mage, and Kiki-Jiki are all somewhat mana intensive. However, it has significantly less power, and doesn't have persist like Kitchen Finks does. A bit worse when you have to play a grindy game though, because the vanishing counters will become rather significant.
I'm probably gonna see how far I can develop the tokens list with young pyromancer and bitterblossom