1 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

tywoo gets it..

I could easily just net-deck and get a winning deck but then whats the point of even coming here to discuss brewing.. Im probably not going to any grand prix's anytime soon and I only attend FNM once in a while. So yea sticking with soldiers theme for now.

Also came to the same conclusion about the caryatid's but currently have only 1 and I feel like it would be lackluster in actuality since it can be destroyed by anger of the gods and a few other things so I weary to go out and get more caryatids.. So ramping I think is off the table for this deck for right now I believe. My main creatures are 3 mana so it isnt a huge necessity to ramp.. and if I can keep the captain alive to drop other soldiers then that is just as effective as ramping anyway.. if anything more effective in some ways.

It all comes down to the instant/enchantments/sorceries at this point I think. its either get haste to drop and immediately attack with captain, or have control to remove his threats.. or have counters to stop the direct removal.. or instants like gods willing to stop direct removal. since Im not doing blue or red currently, I ended up with more of the control type cards. Also Im favoring the commands and charms since they give me more options.. Love the idea of using dromoka's command on a fabled hero to buff by 2 making it a 4/4 doublestrike and forcing a fight although the doublestrike wouldnt take effect in the fight, I still like the idea.

But thank you for the feedback.. its better than just talking it out to myself lol.

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2 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Im actually glad you made those comments.. I completely agree with you. This was from me trying out others advice for adding elvish mystic.. I dont like the feel of it and yes the color scheme is pretty messed up so yea I am just gonna revert back to full on soldiers.. I might keep the dragonlord dromoka tho for end game.

As you said, white is my primary color, and going abzan just makes sense for some of the removal/soldier cards I have chosen.. I was thinking of trying out the 4th color red so I could still use crackling doom and with that being said I figured I might be able to squeeze deflecting palm in, but as you said it will be too difficult to pull off consistently. Besides pulling out the red lands, I did add more basic lands to the mana pool.. Might need a few more tho at the time I think I have 10 tap lands and 13 basics if I remember correctly. do you think that ratio is off already?

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3 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

http://deckbox.org/sets/921684?s=c&o=a

Ok how bout something more like this. 4 elvish mystics, 2 sylvan caryatids, less weak soldiers for the ramping cards aswell as dragonlord dromoka and more instant/sorcery spells to work with.

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4 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

ok how bout this list.

http://deckbox.org/sets/952677?s=c&o=a

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5 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Very accurate statements I must say. Its still hard for me to change it so drastically, but I see where your coming from with aquous form.. honestly I forgot that was still standard legal, I feel like I havent seen it in like a year lol. And that card would make the preeminent captain get through much easier.

The anger of the gods/drown in sorrow, by the time a card like that hits the board I would bolsterd a couple times most likely so I wouldnt lose everything most likely also dromoka's command can deal with cards like that I would think, Also a side note to the bolster thing is that anafenza kintree, fabled hero, and the captain all start at 2/2 so alot of the time when I bolster I actually am making the choice of where to put the couter.

I Also love the ordeal cards.. ive been using the heliod one in a mono white deck to drop for 1 mana with hero of iroas. trigger heroic.. attack so I instantly have 2 counters from that card.. and usually I choose a card that has a counter already and I can instantly gain 10 life.. so I wouldnt mind a ordeal card for my fabled hero, not sure which one I would choose but it would either be the gain 10 life, search for 2 basic lands, or draw 2 cards.. Oh and I just realized that I didnt update my decklist completely.. Ive been trying out armament corps in that 5 mana spot aswell.. Its the largest 5mana drop soldier thats available and instead of bolster 2 its put 2 counters on 1 or 2 creatures and as a 4/4 it can escape those board wipes we spoke of. what do you think of having mayb 2 or 3 of those instead of the scaleguards. Also I have 2 dragonlord dromoka that might be ok for my big drop.

Also thinking of swapping out soldier of the pantheon for herald of anafenza who can atleast put counters and drop tokens when his usefulness isnt there anymore.

Attacking with the captain to get his usefulness is a drawback.. thats why I had been playing around with having a form of haste in this deck earlier.. but since im trying to drop red, I dont think there is another option to speed him up. Going wide was always the strategy with this deck.. thats why I chose to build it around preeminent captain so I can drop creatures faster.. Also have launch the fleet in SB cause I figured it would just make sense, but so far that slot has been better served with removal cards.

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6 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

First of all.. thank you for the discussion, I love arguing my point so please dont take feelings from me disagreeing, but I dont plan on paying 5 mana to drop anything ever in this deck.. the 5 mana spot was kind of wasted in the past so instead I swapped it out for something that can drop for free.. hence the soldiers theme. and dropping a card that instantly bolsters 2 and can help most of my cards tap defenders isnt bad in my eyes and does alot of those things you mentioned that it didnt do. Instead of spending 5 mana on that 1 game changing card as you say.. I opted for being able to drop 2 cards at that turn and potentially a third with preeminent captain out. Now on the flip side, yes If I was spending the mana for that 5 drop I would probably want to put in a couple wingmate roc's or yes possible one of the dragons.

heroic is something that Im not big on for this deck anymore.. I tried it alot... like alot alot.. but I really wasnt liking it.. that felt like way more of a hodge podge by trying to mix soldiers with heroics.. there are only a couple of heroic cards that I would even entertain putting in this deck which are fabled hero and hero of iroas. And putting in hero of iroas as well as having heroic as a main mechanic I would need to have instants to ping the heroic which means losing more of my controlling/removal cards and thats a bad idea. From my experience, people with good decks dont care bout how big your creature gets.. it gets heros downfalled or abzan charmed asap so the heroic thing didnt impress me at FNM. Thats why instead I went for putting out more creatures at a faster pace and granted Its nowhere near perfect but its been more effective than my past heroic debacles.

I believe you mentioned before that U/W is better for soldiers but I dont really see how thats possible because from straight blue cards and blue white mixed cards the best im seeing is battlewise hoplite and thats just not gonna cut it. But you tell me if im missing something.
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Searc … dard%22%5D

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7 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Well this started as a mardu deck not an abzan deck.. and honestly the core of the soldiers idea is white.. I just changed it to abzan for the anafenza foremost primarily. I dont look at the deck like im running an abzan deck.. its a soldier deck first and foremost. no pun intended lol. so not having siege rhino doesnt really bother me at all. if I had them, then cool I would probably try it, but im not going out of my way to get some rhinos for this.

Now on the land issue, I admit im still tweaking the lands around so I dont run into that issue of always having tapped lands coming in, but I dont have enough good fetch lands to make up for it as of right now so I figured having less of the basic lands and swapping out for the evolving wilds would mean more chances of getting any of the given colors I need. And in fact after reading some of that thread you linked.. it seems that most people dont agree with his outcome and that deck thinning is still going to be beneficial.. the OP's reasoning was more about not wanting to hurt yourself from the lands like wooded landfall over and over. In the end I most likely will not have 4 evolving wilds in the deck but currently its been more beneficial then detrimental from what Ive noticed.

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8 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Yea I couldnt think of the word but tempo deck fits perfectly for this deck. I did pretty much overlook blue cause I dont really like blue, just not my play style i guess. And the evolving wild is so I have a better way of guaranteeing getting a basic land I need at the given time. especially for basic mountains. But also I like having ways of thining the deck out which fetches like evolving wilds do for me. Admittedly this happens from bad shuffling or just bad luck but sometimes ill be in a situation where I have plenty of land and my last 2 draws were land, being able to shuffle my deck at that point helps get out of that land patch.

Ive thought bout the siege rhinos plenty of times, its a very strong card, but I dont want to stray from the soldiers in this deck. Besides everyone doing abzan is running rhinos, and personally I dont like having such a similar deck as others.

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9 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Thx for responding tywooonetime, you have helped me in the past.

The nature's panoply idea was just another way of getting counters on my creatures to make use of the elite scaleguard's secondary ability of taping enemy defenders, but yes I understand what you are saying about the indestructible, thats also why I recently put Valorous Stance in the mainboard to try it out.

Im actually loving your idea about feat of resistance since it accomplishes both the permanent counter and temp indestructible, and inspiring call is dependent on having the counters on creatures already so I think it would be a little harder for me to include that in the mainboard but I can definitely see how it can win a game in the right situation. Then again once I get the anafenza, the foremost in the deck, plus with bolster from anafenza, kin-tree spirit, elite scaleguard, and I just threw in 1 armament corps instead of a 3rd elite scaleguard(but im not completely sold on it), with these I might be able to pull off keeping inspiring call in.

Currently my life gain is from my planeswalkers, they do a pretty good job of getting me life when I need it, and still thinking a 2nd Sorin might be worth buying. But as always your insight is always helpful. thx

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10 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

oh congratulations, and dont worry, I just noticed this whole sub forum is kinda dead not just my thread lol.

and yea Im gonna get as many dromokas command as I can, and the heros downfall is only 1 cause I only have 1 lmao. I wish I had more but it hasnt happened yet. Well It hasnt been a priority up till recently to be honest. and ajani's presence is a nice card but ive also been thinking about how nature's panoply might work combined with elite scaleguard, I prefer the counters over until end of turn effects most of the time. And at that point it makes me want to try out gleam of authority, but I fear that I would have to many buff cards and not enough control/removal. But ill play test it with some friends. abzan ascendancy is another card I got 1 of right now and im trying it out but im not to sure if its a good idea, might be too expensive but replacing my cards with 1/1 flyers when they die isnt too shabby.

edit: also currently the heros downfall is in my SB and murderous cut is taking its place, I was on the fence about this card but with 4 evolving wilds and 2 fetch lands I actually end up having a decent amount of cards in the yard even without losing creatures. So the heros downfall will probably be for when I run into someone using elspeth or nissa. Also wow I just remembered bout Obelisk of Urd, too bad its not counters, so it wouldnt trigger the scaleguard. also I had tried running door of destinies in another deck back when it was legal and it just didnt work out so im a little skeptical bout this one.

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11 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Well this forum section seems pretty dead but o well ill just talk to myself. I decided that dropping red might be a better idea than I previously thought. so I updated my list to be abzan, only im not really changing my creatures much.. just dropping the zurgo helmsmasher and ankle shanker for elite scaleguard. Abzan charm is such a versatile card so its gonna be a must, as well as dromoka's command. I found that my main problem at FNM was being controlled so hopefully my updated instants list will be more effective.

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12 Reply by Piffguru

(4 replies, posted in Reddit MTG Trades)

Bump

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13 Reply by Piffguru

(12 replies, posted in General Discussion)

After I damaged the top of an archangel of thune I decided to double sleeve my main deck. Since then I have had zero problems with damaging cards and I play with that deck daily. Also have to be careful with regular binders, Ive recently had a foil ashen rider get pressed too hard against a binder ring and it damaged the back of that card. So now I will either use a cover page in my binder so that might not happen or get a binder with no rings, aka a binder specifically for cards. everything uncommon and common I just pack in fat packs or boxes.

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14 Reply by Piffguru

(4 replies, posted in Reddit MTG Trades)

Some of the things in my inventory I wouldnt mind trading if its not in a deck. What cards were you interested in?

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15 Topic by Piffguru

(4 replies, posted in Reddit MTG Trades)

looking to get:

2 Anafenza, the Foremost
4 dromoka's command

check out my tradelist.
http://deckbox.org/sets/510212?s=i&o=d

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16 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Well I went 2-3 in the FNM

first round I lost to an abzadan control deck   0-2
second round I lost to a goblin rabblemaster type deck, it was close tho    1-2
third round I won against a jeskai type deck with mantis riders   2-0
fourth round my opponent left so I got a free win
fifth round against a abzan midrange deck     1-2

so I won 4 matches in total so I think it was somewhat successful. I had to mulligan like 5 times even with 23 land so I guess I just got unlucky. I sideboarded out the launch the fleet almost immediately and went with crater claws then wild slash then gods willing. My main problem seems to be against control decks.. I'm not sure what would of helped me against them but I probably would of been better off sideboarding out maybe all of my chained to the rocks for some defensive cards like gods willing or other protection cards.

On a side note I watched some people play flip it or rip it and ended up ripping up a polluted delta and an sarkhan unbroken. I find it quite retarded.

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17 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Since I just got my 2nd launch the fleet I think that might be a better card to keep in main board instead of gods willing, gets me more creatures and triggers heroic on fabled hero. Though its still in the slot that I would use to SB when things go wrong.

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18 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

well ankle shanker isnt a soldier so it wouldnt be put out like the brimaz would. But yea I love green, its literally the only other color I thought bout switching to, I just currently think this works better, especially in terms of theme consistency, If I did green like you said Id probably have elvish mystic in and that would have to take the place of soldier of the pantheon so I would lose another potential soldier to free drop.

In terms of other removals, yea just looking at my SB I see some good replacements but especially with how good crackling doom is, doing damage and removing the largest creature and being able to bypass hexproof, that has been a life saver plenty of times for me.

Every time I try splashing green in I end up opening the door for ramping and putting in larger creatures and I end up messing up the flow of the deck.

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19 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

If I drop red which dont get me wrong Ive thought about plenty of times, the biggest hurt for me would be losing crackling doom and chained to the rocks. Those cards allow this deck to work, I would need equally good green removal cards to replace I believe.

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20 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

The perfect hand for me would be..
Turn 1: plains + Soldier of the Pantheon
Turn 2: plains + Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
Turn 3: mountain + Preeminent Captain
Turn 4: mountain + Fabled Hero + Hammerhand -- Preeminent captain attacks bringing in Brimaz, King of Oreskos + 1/1 cat soldier     (18 damage if unguarded)

Alternate turn 2-4:
Turn 2: Temple of Silence
Turn 3: mountain + Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit + Hammerhand
Turn 4: mountain + Preeminent Captain + Hammerhand / Bringing in Brimaz, King of Oreskos + 1/1 cat token     (12 damage if unguarded)

Still gets its point across lol

Edit: Oh just thought bout it, so does that mean that Brimaz, King of Oreskos doesnt put out his 1/1 cat soldier either, cause brimaz wasnt around for the declaration of attackers?

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21 Reply by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

valdor wrote:

Just a nit-pick, when you attack with Preeminent Captain and bring in a second Preeminent Captain, you do not get to bring in another creature. The Captains ability only triggers when you declare it as an attacker in the Declare attacker step. When you do only then will it trigger his ability. The second one comes into play and has never been declared as an attacker so he gets no trigger.

Oh wow I didnt realize that would be the case. thats huge. thx for pointing that out. It doesnt kill the idea for me though cause originally I wasnt planning on double dropping Preeminent captain, it was just one day I was playing a casual game and had 2 in my hand and thought whats stopping me from double dropping them. ill have to revise that best opening hand then.

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22 Topic by Piffguru

(32 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Hi Ive been brewing this deck for some time now and I think i'm going to bring it to FNM tonight so just wondering if I could get some feedback before that.

http://deckbox.org/sets/915946?s=c&o=a

The perfect hand for me would be..
Turn 1: plains + Soldier of the Pantheon
Turn 2: plains + Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
Turn 3: mountain + Preeminent Captain
Turn 4: mountain + Fabled Hero + Hammerhand -- Preeminent captain attacks bringing in another preeminent captain who brings out Brimaz, King of Oreskos + 1/1 cat soldier     (20 damage if unguarded)

Alternate turn 2-4:
Turn 2: Temple of Silence
Turn 3: mountain + Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit + Hammerhand
Turn 4: mountain + Preeminent Captain + Hammerhand / Bringing in the 2nd preeminent captain + Brimaz, King of Oreskos + 1/1 cat token     (14 damage if unguarded)

Both Scenarios are great starts for this deck but the first scenario is obviously going to be the most favorable. To accomplish these scenarios I would need 2 plains 2 mountains early.. problem being that I have things like nomad outpost, temple of silence, Temple of triumph, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. So thats 8 lands that come in tapped and the nykthos is only useful mid-late game, So im thinking I might want to swap out the nykthos for 2 more basic lands.

Ive been trying out ways of getting a hasted Preeminent Captain out so their is less chance of quick removal but it still takes till turn 4 to really start doing its thing. Also tried using Generator Servant to get him out on turn 3 but I would end up with wasted land on that turn and it just didn't feel right.

This deck doesnt have much flying, the High Sentinels of Arashin are the only flying, so my removals(chained to the rocks/crackling doom) are meant to deal with most threats. My 2 Gods Willing are my sideboard spots.. so I swap those out when needed for other types of removal or direct damage.

I kept my 5 mana creatures as the 2 mardu hasters (zurgo/ankle shanker) both have huge impact when they drop mid to late game. Zurgo Helmsmasher on his own is going to either do alot of damage or kill something and buff. Ankle Shanker only comes out while I have my soldier army poppin off so everything first strike + deathtouch is pretty amazing. I was thinking of getting some trample in the mix but the only way that would fit with this deck would be swapping out Hammerhand for Messenger's Speed. I feel Hammerhand is the superior card in most situations so I left it in for now.

I have been looking at my options for 5 mana soldier creatures to swap out the mardu's but the best fitting card I found was Elite Scaleguard who I wouldnt want to drop for its regular mana cost but if Preeminent Captain drops it then it can be very useful with the bolster 2 and allowing me to tap some of the defending cards.

My Planeswalkers are there primarily for their +1's which gets me life in both cases. Although if I get both out in the right situation I would most likely use Ajani Steadfast -2 to get Sorin, Solemn Visitor to quick ultimate(aswell as buff my army).  (might be getting another Sorin to throw in but I'm thinking it might be too much, or maybe 2 Sorins and 1 Ajani instead)

If I can get my hands on some Anafenza, the Foremost then I would also like to put 2 of them in and probably take out 1 Fabled Hero and 1 High Sentinels of Arashin. The concern is adding a splash of green.. Ive done 4 colors in this deck before and its not easy to consistently pull off, I would probably put in 2 more Evolving Wilds and I have 1 Wooded Foothills and maybe a couple Sandsteppe Citadel that can help with getting a forest. But on the positive side of it I could add Dromoka's Command as a sideboard/main card to take the gods willing opening spot.

Anyway sorry for the long post but I'm pretty passionate about this deck, let me know what you think.

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23 Reply by Piffguru

(28 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

I think ill make some of these changes and try this deck out again at the next FNM. Ill post back my results for better or worse lol

Thx alot for letting me bounce my ideas off you. much appreciated

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24 Reply by Piffguru

(28 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

too my knowledge the heroic ability triggers immediately because its the act of targeting that triggers it and so the phalanx leader would buff before taking the 1 damage from the stack going down. Although you are right the gods willing would do pretty much the exact thing

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25 Reply by Piffguru

(28 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

lol yes evasion does do that.

I just took out cavalry pegasus, I was thinking the same thing.. most of my stuff is human so why not make them flying, it was really underwhelming for some reason and I strait removed them but I did only have 2 in so mayb 4 of would make it more effective. I totally forgot about boros charm not targeting creatures, I guess Ill have to leave magma jet in.

Here is something I thought bout doing but havent tried yet.. throwing in spark jolt to essentially target my own creature to trigger heroic and get the scry, and if for some reason the 1 damage would help kill another creature so be it.

Yea all those reasons you gave about wingsteed rider are why I havent put it in yet. I guess its really just a no go..

The reason for the legion loyalist would be cause I have access to 4 of them lol but I would love to put in 4 soldier of the pantheons that would probably be my best option.. gotta get 3 more of those.

Funny thought.. put in door of destinies and choose humans lol. mana cost is too high imo but mayb it could work

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