Search options (Page 6 of 54)

I'm a fan.  If anything I wish they would speed rotation up even more.

As a mostly standard player I like the idea that this change will likely force people to adopt new strategies and, god forbid, put two seconds worth of thought into building decks (y'know as opposed to just net-decking and running that deck for 2 years).  Sure, the pros will still figure out decks and then people will copy those lists, but at least we won't have to stare down the exact same list for two full years.

From a limited standpoint, this is great.  The LGS where I used to play did drafts every week and I'll admit, by the end of the Theros block, I was pretty sick of opening Theros packs where the only way to even come close to recouping my entry cost would be to pull an Elspeth.  The increased release rate should create more unique limited formats to keep this fresh from week to week.

I dig the increased flavor we're going to be getting as the storyline will actually progress at a better clip.

Now, some people are going to complain about what it might do to card costs, but, realistically, it's not 100% clear what is going to happen there.  I could easily make arguments that the average cost of sought-after cards will increase or decrease - so it's pretty up in the air on that point.

Overall, I like it.  Shake things up.  See what happens.  It's a shame more companies aren't willing to make changes like this from time-to-time.

I would definitely concur that you should pick up Theros staples at the moment while they're super cheap as, for all we know, there will be a deck out there that breaks some of the cards.  Hell, I've even seen speculation that Xenagos, the Reveler could actually increase up to like $20.

But as far as deckbuilding, look to the theros block constructed stuff, supplement with M15, and just be patient.

First off, until we have spoilers for Khans (more than 3 cards at least) it really is trivial to stress about making a deck "rotation safe."  I'm sure you're tired of hearing that by now, but the simple fact is that 1/2 of all the cards available to us are rotating out and we have no idea what 246 of the 269 incoming cards are (note that 3 are spoiled and 20 are basics).  The best plan you can make would be to look at Theros block constructed builds and draw inspiration from those.  Identify the cards rotating out and see if there are comparable replacements that WON'T be rotating.  If so, you're in the clear.  If not, well, the strategy might not be viable post-rotation.

That being said, you want to go red aggro (aka Boss Sligh), there will be a ton of options available I'm sure.   The build you currently have actually doesn't look half bad, but could probably tinker with the burn options to make it a bit more pressuring.

For the marauder, it's definitely worth a go.  I'd suggest tossing in something like Hammer of Purphoros to give everything haste (likely in the SB) to make them more effective.

As for Stoke the Flames, the card is the real deal.  It lets you take your 4 tokens that would achieve nothing and just tap them to do major damage.  Think, Elspeth is on the field, you can't get past her tokens, but you certainly can  blast her in the face.

I'd also keep a keen eye on whether there is a 4 CMC sweeper or not forthcoming as an article I read yesterday seemed to suggest that there might not be one at 4, rather, relegating that to the 5 CMC (which certainly would make aggro happy).

Lastly, I'd be curious to see your sideboard.  How would you deal with other aggro decks?  How about Mono-green Devotion (who will dump out a similar number of creatures that are, on average, bigger and more threatening)?  How do you respond to decks running Anger or Drown in Sorrow?

I think the best course of action would be to go through and tighten things up around a more soldier-centric build.  You're going to want to cut the creature count down to closer to 25 (30 at MAXIMUM).  For land, I would say to go down to around 36 as you have plenty of accelerants/mana rocks and whatnot.  I'm not sure that Elspeth Tirel really fits in here as well as Sun's Champion Elspeth. 

So with just creatures, lands and PWs, you're already somewhere around 60 cards.  I'd cut the enchants down to somewhere more like 10-15 and cut the artifacts to say 7-8 (Boros Signet?).  If we assume you go on the low sides of these suggestions you would still have about 20 cards left for instants or sorceries.  I would overwhelmingly focus these on removal for creatures/enchants/artifacts or board wipe type effects.

It sounds tough, but if you tighten things around the soldier theme I think you'll have some success.

So I'm going to assume this is meant to be more of a Naya superfriends deck?  Realistically, you're not sitting on much of a mid-range plan if you only have 5 mid-range creatures (4 Stormbreaths and 1 Polis).  I would suggest digging into more offensive options or switching to more removal.

Another thought, you're sitting on numerous cards that are going to rotate, so clearly you're not making the "rotation safe" folly build (which I'm glad to see), but you're leaving out some REALLY good ones.  Think Domri Rade, Assemble the Legion, even Aurelia the Warleader can be good.  I would also suggest taking a look at Xenagos, God of Revels and Ghor Clan Rampager with Fleecemane Lion to get a bit more of a punch.  Lastly, Advent of the Wurm is another good option.

Where are the Stomping Grounds, Temple Gardens, and Temple of Triumphs?

As for things to cut, I'm aware that Mystics really help, but I'm not 100% sold on them as they're helping with green while you're wanting to hit the other colors more frequently.  I'm thinking the Caryatids might be enough there, but I could easily be wrong.  I would consider taking Lightning Strike out for Anger in the main as it won't kill your coursers while potentially dealing with more threats in a single stroke.  In the event that you don't need the sweeper, you can side in more pointed removal.

For the SB, I would pull Purphoros, Revel of the Fallen God, and possibly even Fated Conflagration - I would actually say to toss in Warleader's Helix as it will likely kill many PWs while also gaining you life against burn decks.

Anywhom, I hope some of this helps.  I know that the combo of Xenagod + Aurelia is pretty sick, accounting for 18 damage in one turn... but if you want to run this other route, there certainly isn't anything wrong with that.  Alternately, you have enough PWs for a more superfriends-style build... at which point you should be running more removal.  Good luck!

Realistically, many of the foil chase cards can net 2-3 of the non-foil version of the card.  Given your limited collection, it would probably be a better bet to trade the foil for the non-foil versions.  Mind you, the foils look really nice, but unless you're trying to trick out a deck, it doesn't make much sense to worry about having the foil version.

There was actually a fun article just the other day on mono green aggro deck the other day with Charging Badger and Aspect of Hydra (I think it was through tcg's articles).  As elpablo said, you can invest in some of the pieces for it for extra cheap - Swordwise Centaur, Kalonian Tusker, Reverent Hunter, Spire Tracer, Nylea, etc.

Something like this:

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1200833

Sadly it's more U/W control with a splash of red, but that's about the best Izzet has these days... at least to my knowledge...

It's actually been quite a while since Izzet really had something solid (back before rotation during the Delver days).  You should look on TCGPlayer and there was some sort of an American control deck that placed well recently that uses Keranos, God of Storms to push things through... but at current, that's the best performing "Izzet" deck that I know of in Standard.

If I get a chance I'll dig to see if I can find the list, but it placed two people in the top 16 of either a GP or SCGOpen just a few weeks ago.

So Ajani's Presence is pretty self-explanatory for control match-ups.  Rest in Peace was a bit of a local meta call - if you have any concern that you might run into B/G constellation or B/G "Dredge" or even Orzhov Humans it will just plain out beat those decks (RIP actually keeps Athreos and Xathrid Necromancer from triggering).  Elspeth is honestly just an effort toward something that you could bring in against R/G decks that either drop a bunch of big threats (chumping all day) or to get rid of Stormbreath Dragon (not an ideal solution).  To be 100% honest, I only had the one spot left and figured, why not, it is the dominant card in the format and it can certainly free you up to swing with your big hexproof threat.

As far as Hopeful Eidolon for the deck... it does give you more lifelink, but honestly, you already have 8 sources and with Ajani, Mentor of Heroes you can actually dig more out.  Toss in the card draw off of Eidolon of Blossoms and you're likely going to hit Gifts or Unflinching rather reliably.  The biggest issue is that Hopeful costs 4 to bestow (as you'll almost NEVER want to creature cast it), and at that cost, you can bestow Eidolon of Countless Battles for a much greater effect.

So I actually pieced a similar deck together for my GF to play at JOU gameday... As for the W/G aggro match-up, I've found EVERY aggro match-up to be very much in your favor as you can get in there with lifelink.  If they have combat tricks, and you know this from game 1, then just play a bit more cautiously.

The list she ran is here:  http://deckbox.org/sets/673328

A few thoughts:

1) Banishing Light in the main is really where it's at.  This is a card that, honestly, you are NEVER sad to see.  It gives more pumps via Ethereal Armor AND deals with their (insert card here).

2) Heliod in the main is actually better than you think.  It's actually quite easy to get sufficient devotion given Gift of Orzhova's double white symbols.  He gives your super enchanted dude vigilance (always nice when racing to keep the giant lifelinker back on defense too).  Other benefits include being an enchantment and also crapping out more enchantments via his clerics.  Great dude here all around and, in a pinch, indestructible is almost as good as hexproof.

3) Eidolon of Blossoms.  Sure, this is the card that EVERYONE is trying to build around, but think about it, it draws you a card immediately, gives you another body that they have to deal with (that you could potentially enchant if you REALLY needed to), and will continue to draw you cards for every aura you drop.  If they're using their removal and such to get rid of this, they can't really be doing it to your other hexproof guys or your enchantments, now can they?  Now U/W has to either use that D'sphere to exile your Ethereal Armor OR your card draw engine... win-win in my books.

4) Eidolon of Countless Battles is essentially Ethereal Armors 5-8 depending on how many you put in.  Sure, it costs 4 and you will almost NEVER be casting it as a creature, but it provides wrath resistance to some degree, and will often result in a hilariously large creature.

Now, having said all of this, a few things to keep in mind.  The Selesnya aggro match-up should be cake as long as you get a single creature with hexproof to have lifelink.  You can, and likely will, win that race.  Control and mono-black are a bit more of a headache, but still matchups you can make your way through.  Against control, Ajani's Presence comes in from the board to protect against verdict.  You also ALWAYS want to attack with an unenchanted Gladecover Scout alongside your huge enchant creature, as Celestial Flare is most definitely a thing that will bite you in the arse.  Against mono-black, you really just have to survive their hand disruption and a few creatures on the board (again, Devour Flesh can be a pain), but once you have a big dude on the board... you likely just win as Pack Rat is too slow to answer your huge dude.

Overall, a fun deck.  I've had some serious success playing it online.  I hope some of this helps.

As Sebi posted in the Announcements section today... they're up and good to go!  Happy inventorying and trading!

Level of competition?  FNM or higher?  Tier 1 decks or home brews?  What is your proposed strategy?  How about the budget to improve?

C'mon... you give minimal effort in the posting and you shall receive minimal effort from the community to actually give you useful feedback.