Random question, primarily for those of us looking at 3+ colour builds. For the record, I am not in energy, which could be significant to the answer.
I've been building with Hour of Glory instead of Vraska's Contempt. Converted cost is the same at 4 (3B vs 2BB). Hour can potentially be an X-for-1 depending on their hand. Contempt has a slightly wider target base and minor lifegain, but the double-black in its cost concerns me. I haven't seen any planeswalkers floating around aside from Chandra in RR, so it seems to me that it comes down to the 2 life. Is it really that significant? And am I over-fearing the mana?
I missed that Walking Ballistaisn't a trigger, this make Panharmonicon truly less useful. Winding Constrictor part is just because the artifact would make another trigger for the snake, but since don't work with ballista, is just meh. Still incredible fun with Hostage Taker, with two you can, utterly slowly, wipe all the board. With three+ 1 ETB creature, could be infinite.
I think you still misunderstand something. Hostage Taker+Panharmonicon exiles two creatures until Hostage Taker leaves. But when it leaves it will return those 2 creatures. If you have 2 Panharmonicons, you will exile 3 creatures until then. If you have 1 Panharmonicon and 2 Hostage Takers, I don't see anything special happening. 2 do not "slowly wipe all the board". The best you can do is remove 4 things. Which is still pretty good, but it took 3 cards to get there and is nothing crazy.
With 3, you get this silly play:
1st, exile two of their things (or your things).
2nd, exile one of theirs and your Hostage Taker, they get their 2 things back.
3rd, exile your Rogue Refiner and your second Hostage Taker. The first Hostage Taker comes back and triggers, you steal your third. This returns your second, and Rogue Refiner, drawing 2 cards and completing a loop.
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Current Awesome Deck: UWAll-In GiftsWU Consistent, Resiliant, and way overpowered, making multiple 4/4s per turn.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWUFree Stuff MidrangeUWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
Random question, primarily for those of us looking at 3+ colour builds. For the record, I am not in energy, which could be significant to the answer.
I've been building with Hour of Glory instead of Vraska's Contempt. Converted cost is the same at 4 (3B vs 2BB). Hour can potentially be an X-for-1 depending on their hand. Contempt has a slightly wider target base and minor lifegain, but the double-black in its cost concerns me. I haven't seen any planeswalkers floating around aside from Chandra in RR, so it seems to me that it comes down to the 2 life. Is it really that significant? And am I over-fearing the mana?
The potential for them to have 2+ Gods (one on board and more in hand) is pretty slim. I mean, it happens, but other than mono red, most people aren't running more than 2 of a type of God. Mono red typically pitches their extra Hazorets, so again, less likely for it to be a 2-for-1. And I would say that the extra life gain and the ability to hit PW is a pretty big upside. Chandra is a real threat and can be very hard to deal with. Vraska is popping up in some lists and is a solid finisher if unanswered. Tezzeret is somewhat of a nuisance in the Improvise decks, but IMO it's still worth having a direct answer for him. And the lifegain is more than incidental, as that's 10% of your starting life total and can make a huge difference in the mono red match-up. I would try to make your mana base BB capable if you can.
I think you still misunderstand something. Hostage Taker+Panharmonicon exiles two creatures until Hostage Taker leaves. But when it leaves it will return those 2 creatures. If you have 2 Panharmonicons, you will exile 3 creatures until then. If you have 1 Panharmonicon and 2 Hostage Takers, I don't see anything special happening. 2 do not "slowly wipe all the board". The best you can do is remove 4 things. Which is still pretty good, but it took 3 cards to get there and is nothing crazy.
You're missing the second half of Hostage Taker which allows you to cast their creature while it's in exile. That double removal with Taker can represent two extra bodies on your side of the board if Taker survives long enough for you to cast both and is the "slow board wipe" here.
Ah so you keep casting their creatures, and then when you get around to it recast your own Hostage Taker to steal something else. That is pretty nuts, and maybe deserving of its own non-snek deck.
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Current Awesome Deck: UWAll-In GiftsWU Consistent, Resiliant, and way overpowered, making multiple 4/4s per turn.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWUFree Stuff MidrangeUWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
Exactly, you can exile the first taker with the second, recast the second and exile the first.
The cool part is if they remove one of the Tacker you can get the second for free.
Ah so you keep casting their creatures, and then when you get around to it recast your own Hostage Taker to steal something else. That is pretty nuts, and maybe deserving of its own non-snek deck.
Yes, definately would be another deck. Maybe with hidden herbalists, since with Panharmonicons each time you cast it(or a Taker that exiled it LTB), would add 4 G, and you can use any mana with Taker
Random question, primarily for those of us looking at 3+ colour builds. For the record, I am not in energy, which could be significant to the answer.
I've been building with Hour of Glory instead of Vraska's Contempt. Converted cost is the same at 4 (3B vs 2BB). Hour can potentially be an X-for-1 depending on their hand. Contempt has a slightly wider target base and minor lifegain, but the double-black in its cost concerns me. I haven't seen any planeswalkers floating around aside from Chandra in RR, so it seems to me that it comes down to the 2 life. Is it really that significant? And am I over-fearing the mana?
The potential for them to have 2+ Gods (one on board and more in hand) is pretty slim. I mean, it happens, but other than mono red, most people aren't running more than 2 of a type of God. Mono red typically pitches their extra Hazorets, so again, less likely for it to be a 2-for-1. And I would say that the extra life gain and the ability to hit PW is a pretty big upside. Chandra is a real threat and can be very hard to deal with. Vraska is popping up in some lists and is a solid finisher if unanswered. Tezzeret is somewhat of a nuisance in the Improvise decks, but IMO it's still worth having a direct answer for him. And the lifegain is more than incidental, as that's 10% of your starting life total and can make a huge difference in the mono red match-up. I would try to make your mana base BB capable if you can.
Thanks for that assessment. Yeah, I know that the X-for-1 off Hour is pretty unlikely, just had to include it for completeness' sake. Prolly should have added more caveat there. As for Contempt and the lifegain, I wasn't looking at in terms of starting life; put your way, it is more meaningful.
Not being on energy makes things tougher for 3 colours to operate. My list is skewed to green, and I've intentionally limited double-colour costs. I'd appreciate any suggestions to make it operate more smoothly while making room for Contempt.
Wouldn't it be better to play Merfolk Branchwalker over Deeproot Champion? It's a better top-deck, and helps filter for lands since you aren't running Attune. Bringing it back with Scarab God makes it a potential 5/5, too.
Quiet here. Are people just like "deck works, nothing to discuss", or are you off trying other decks, or is there problems with your deck that we can solve together?
Running my energy combo I'm in a slightly different position from others here, and for me overall the deck feels fine. It's very weak to Second Approach, competes well with Temur/Black, haven't played enough Red aggro to judge, and mostly good against the rest.
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Current Awesome Deck: UWAll-In GiftsWU Consistent, Resiliant, and way overpowered, making multiple 4/4s per turn.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWUFree Stuff MidrangeUWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
Yeah, well. I did a ton of sealed, but not a lot of constructed data. I built a Sultai thing with Ripjaw Raptors and no Servants of the Conduit that went 2-3. I rebuilt with Glint-Sleeve Siphoners and am 2-0 with that. I am reluctant to say anything due to small sample size issues, but here are my tentative conclusions:
Without acceleration, Ripjaw is too slow and conditional to be a card draw engine.
The low mana cost and card advantage of Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, as recommended by the Jessups, seem good.
I still like the U splash for Rogue Refiner and The Scarab God.
The mana is borderline. Another untapped Sultai dual would be fantastic.
Shaper's Sanctuary was really good out of the 'board against RR. Considering a second.
Hostage Taker seems slow against RR and not powerful against Control. Running a pair out of the sideboard was good against Bant Tokens
Hi, just getting back into standard after a 3 year break from it (been playing a lot of modern and legacy instead) and my interest has been piqued by this deck. Are there any articles etc about the deck?
Untested, but the thinking is, my deck plays really well when I stick any of Aethergeode Miner, Decoction Module, Fabrication Module, Winding Constrictor and have a bit of energy.
So Servants give us energy and mana, splashing blue gets us more card draw (Siphoners were great when they lived but often died too fast) and with 8 card-draw sources I should be able to quickly draw into some power combos.
No maindeck removal on the theory that apart from Heart of Kiran, they have to stop my game plan more than I theirs. Against mono-red, hope to just clog the board, not sure that's a viable plan but we'll see.
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Current Awesome Deck: UWAll-In GiftsWU Consistent, Resiliant, and way overpowered, making multiple 4/4s per turn.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWUFree Stuff MidrangeUWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
Took this to FNM and played against BW Tokens, Temur Energy, UW Approach, and Merfolk. Went 4-0, but I feel like it was only because the sideboard package is incredibly stacked at dealing with Control. Negate, Duress, and Spell Pierce combined are brutal. BW Tokens made me feel like I need a sweeper in the sideboard, but Longtusk Cub and The Scarab God managed to pull me through it regardless. Temur Energy is a fun one where I'm glad I have The Scarab God. Bristling Hydra is impossible to remove, but that's not a big deal when I can have a bigger threat and also hit their life total directly with Walking Ballista. Merfolk doesn't really feel like it did anything. Sure it had a bunch of smaller threats and was trying to tempo me out, but when your two drops are Walking Ballista and Longtusk Cub you just win that war. Hostage Taker did some hilarious things too in that matchup.
What I'd want to change going forward is getting that 4th Glint-Sleeve Siphoner back in. Those things make the deck feel super consistent. I'm just not sure what to pull out. I want to keep the spell package given the Spell Pierce is what saved me against UW Control. Double mainboard The Scarab God feels right against any other Midrange deck. I need a sweeper in the side, and I might want to go up on the Negate package. All the red players in my shop seem to have vanished, but I'm not sure I'll change anything about the list because of it. Deathgorge Scavenger is a card that works in many matchups and I'm not ready to drop it even if I managed to dodge the Gifts players this time around. I'd almost like to fit another Appetite for the Unnatural, but the sideboard is already compact and wants sweepers so I'm not sure where to bring that.
what do you guys think of confiscation coup to replace hostage taker? the price is really just crazy!! Also, is it okay to replace fetid pools with drowned catacomb?
Hostage Taker can be a 3 for 1 instead of a 2 for 1 in creature mirrors, and you get to benefit from their ETB effects. Hostage Taker can also do things like hiding your own stuff underneath it to psuedo-protect from a Fumigate, or even just later in the game to recast your Rogue Refiner.
The key though is you have to play Blossoming Defense to protect it. Without Blossoming Defense then Confiscation Coup is better, which is what Temur tends to be doing. Blossoming Defense is also pretty good in a Snek deck though too in general since it lets you stick a two drop on turn three through removal, and the deck is overloaded on two drops that the opponent usually feels they need to answer right away. Just sometimes you need to play the delicate balance of waiting on using your Blossoming Defense and making sure you drop your threats with that mana up.
On the side though it looks like Hostage Taker is dropping in price since it didn't show up in Worlds beyond the draft decks.
Updated primer with link to Andrew Jessup article on the deck including sideboarding.
As for Hostage Taker cost, I feel ya bro! I borrowed a pair last night to complement my pair and run the stock deck. 3-0-1 for second was good for me, but I'll just be rocking my pair until the price comes down a bit. OTOH, if I had a PPTQ this weekend, I would pick up another pair in a hot second.
Coup seems like a decent idea, but UU is awkward for an already strained manabase.
Another budget way to go is with our traditional strengths. With Winding Constictors, our Bristling Hydras are better than Temur's and Verdurous Gearhulk is still a beating. Hostage taker is slow against Aggro anyway. Without Hostage Taker, I cut back on Blossoming Defense to become more threat dense.
I actually think our key card is Glint-Sleeve Siphoner. The card advantage that card provides is what allows us to get beyond one for ones.
I'm going to be trying out a 2/2 Split of Hostage Taker and Bristling Hydra in addition to 2/2 Blossoming Defense and Essence Scatter. I'm hoping it improves our Temur matchup while we rely on the back of Glint-Sleeve Siphoner to give us the card advantage in those games. Essence Scatter being an answer to Hazoret, Scarab God, Hydras, and Glorybringer. Hydra just going off the advice here, and that it's never really let me down. Not as game swinging as a successful Hostage Taker, but it's a brick wall certainly.
I read through Jessup's article, and I'm not sure in the sideboarding plan why Walking Ballista is removed in any of the match-ups. That card can single-handedly win the game long term and I consider it to be one of the strongest cards in the deck. Control hates the card so much they actively remove it every time it hits the table. Temur hates it so much they Abrade it whenever possible. This is because every opponent recognizes it as a mana sink that will take over the game. So why board it out?
Other thoughts on his version of the deck. I still don't like Rishkar. I mean, I understand that a T2 Constrictor into a T3 Rishkar is very strong, and the extra mana can make for additional broken plays, but I just think he's clunky. It's often just a 3/3 for 3 mana dork because the other creature got removed. I'm still a huge fan of Rhonas in the deck, as again, most other decks actively hate Rhonas. He's hard to remove and provides evasion to any other creature, which then turns him online as a huge beater. I also think it's a mistake to not have any Aethersphere Harvesters, as there are so many match-ups where that card was clutch. Blossoming Defense helps out, as it can save a creature from removal and/or stop the "can't block" effects that make the red match-up so rough. Deathgorge Scavenger also helps, but is only semi-repeatable (as it's dependent on the what's in the GY) and easier to remove. Lastly, there's no artifact/enchantment hate in the sideboard. Should there be, or is there insufficient meta evidence of artifact/enchantment relevant cards to have some kind of hate in the sideboard?
Rishkar gets better with more good 2 drops. Neither of us were rocking Siphoners two weeks ago. With Siphoners, I am happy with Rishkar, as I can usually get the extra counter and ramp myself.
I think The Scarab God and Hostage Taker are more impactful mana sinks than Ballista, so that might be part of rationale for siding Ballistas out.
Hostage Taker can take artifacts. I am running Vraska, who can deal with both artifacts and enchantments.
I read through Jessup's article, and I'm not sure in the sideboarding plan why Walking Ballista is removed in any of the match-ups. That card can single-handedly win the game long term and I consider it to be one of the strongest cards in the deck. Control hates the card so much they actively remove it every time it hits the table.
Not true - or, at least, only true if a) the Control player is bad, b) the Control player has a really low life total or c) the Control player has more than enough removal.
Grizzly Bears that can Shock the opponent when removed sounds great on paper, but in this Standard format, aganst these Control decks, it just isn't.
You're very rarely winning against a Control deck by playing a big Walking Ballista and shocking them to death - unless you already have a Winding Constrictor on the board (which they should remove with Walking Ballista on the stack - if they don't have removal, you're already winning anyways) or you get to go off with some Verdurous Gearhulk shenanigans.
Now, that is not to say that Walking Ballista is straight-up terrible against Control, but I'm still siding out all of my copies against Control decks not running Hostage Takers and at least 2 copies even against Control decks that run the overpowered pirate. The answers I have in my sideboard are just more potent than the "catch-all", "sometimes-you'll-combo-off" Walking Ballista - at least in the Control match-up.
The Control player doesn't care so much about it T4 (which is when it's a Grizzly Bear that shocks then), but more late game when it comes down as a 3/3 or 4/4. At that point, we have the mana to make it grow (and probably little else in hand to do with our excess mana), and it becomes an extremely dangerous threat. In virtually every Control match-up I've played, I've watched them prioritize removal of Walking Ballista over other cards, even Winding Constrictor. I hear groans when I play it and they don't have a counterspell in hand. Ballista can not attack and win you the game, which can't be said of any other card in the deck. It represents points of damage if it resolves (like a burn spell) if they do have removal, which also can't be said of any other creature. That being said, it doesn't win the game near as quickly or overwhelm the opponent in card advantage as other threats in the deck do, so I usually side out 1-2 of them, but not all of them. And I'm not sure what my sideboarding plan will be going forward, as I've modified my sideboard since SCG Dallas. So who knows, maybe Ballista won't make the cut against Control!
So I am very recently on the Sultai energy plan. I was doing some goldfishing earlier today and ran into a sequencing conundrum. Here's the situation:
Starting hand contains a couple lands, Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, Longtusk Cub and some other stuff that doesn't use or generate energy.
I played out Siphoner on turn 2 (1 energy), attacked with it on turn 3 (2 energy) and played Cub. I now have two creatures on board competing for the same resource.
What would be the best decision on turn 4? Use the energy to draw off Siphoner, or hold it to pump Cub? (Still don't have another energy producer.)
I'm sure there's a lot of situational considerations here, so I guess what I should ask is: what would be the best choice in this situation vs RR? Temur? U/x control? Or did I make a mistake earlier in the game with my choice of which creature to cast first and if I should have cast the second at all? (And if so, which should be the first play against the "big 3"?)
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I've been building with Hour of Glory instead of Vraska's Contempt. Converted cost is the same at 4 (3B vs 2BB). Hour can potentially be an X-for-1 depending on their hand. Contempt has a slightly wider target base and minor lifegain, but the double-black in its cost concerns me. I haven't seen any planeswalkers floating around aside from Chandra in RR, so it seems to me that it comes down to the 2 life. Is it really that significant? And am I over-fearing the mana?
I think you still misunderstand something. Hostage Taker+Panharmonicon exiles two creatures until Hostage Taker leaves. But when it leaves it will return those 2 creatures. If you have 2 Panharmonicons, you will exile 3 creatures until then. If you have 1 Panharmonicon and 2 Hostage Takers, I don't see anything special happening. 2 do not "slowly wipe all the board". The best you can do is remove 4 things. Which is still pretty good, but it took 3 cards to get there and is nothing crazy.
With 3, you get this silly play:
1st, exile two of their things (or your things).
2nd, exile one of theirs and your Hostage Taker, they get their 2 things back.
3rd, exile your Rogue Refiner and your second Hostage Taker. The first Hostage Taker comes back and triggers, you steal your third. This returns your second, and Rogue Refiner, drawing 2 cards and completing a loop.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWU Free Stuff Midrange UWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
My greatest hits:
GURFate Reforged Temur Ascendancy COMBORUG
GUDragons of Tarkir Whisperwood Forever UG
The potential for them to have 2+ Gods (one on board and more in hand) is pretty slim. I mean, it happens, but other than mono red, most people aren't running more than 2 of a type of God. Mono red typically pitches their extra Hazorets, so again, less likely for it to be a 2-for-1. And I would say that the extra life gain and the ability to hit PW is a pretty big upside. Chandra is a real threat and can be very hard to deal with. Vraska is popping up in some lists and is a solid finisher if unanswered. Tezzeret is somewhat of a nuisance in the Improvise decks, but IMO it's still worth having a direct answer for him. And the lifegain is more than incidental, as that's 10% of your starting life total and can make a huge difference in the mono red match-up. I would try to make your mana base BB capable if you can.
You're missing the second half of Hostage Taker which allows you to cast their creature while it's in exile. That double removal with Taker can represent two extra bodies on your side of the board if Taker survives long enough for you to cast both and is the "slow board wipe" here.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWU Free Stuff Midrange UWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
My greatest hits:
GURFate Reforged Temur Ascendancy COMBORUG
GUDragons of Tarkir Whisperwood Forever UG
The cool part is if they remove one of the Tacker you can get the second for free.
Yes, definately would be another deck. Maybe with hidden herbalists, since with Panharmonicons each time you cast it(or a Taker that exiled it LTB), would add 4 G, and you can use any mana with Taker
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Thanks for that assessment. Yeah, I know that the X-for-1 off Hour is pretty unlikely, just had to include it for completeness' sake. Prolly should have added more caveat there. As for Contempt and the lifegain, I wasn't looking at in terms of starting life; put your way, it is more meaningful.
Not being on energy makes things tougher for 3 colours to operate. My list is skewed to green, and I've intentionally limited double-colour costs. I'd appreciate any suggestions to make it operate more smoothly while making room for Contempt.
4 Botanical Sanctum
3 Fetid Pools
4 Forest
1 Foul Orchard
2 Island
4 Swamp
1 Woodland Stream
3 Blossoming Defense
3 Fatal Push
3 Spell Pierce
2 Doomfall
1 Driven // Despair
4 Deeproot Champion
3 Hostage Taker
1 Rhonas the Indomitable
1 Ripjaw Raptor
2 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
1 The Scarab God
3 Verdurous Gearhulk
3 Walking Ballista
4 Winding Constrictor
2 Appetite for the Unnatural
1 Deathgorge Scavenger
1 Dreamstealer
2 Duress
1 Fatal Push
2 Hour of Glory
2 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
3 Negate
1 Yahenni's Expertise
Wouldn't it be better to play Merfolk Branchwalker over Deeproot Champion? It's a better top-deck, and helps filter for lands since you aren't running Attune. Bringing it back with Scarab God makes it a potential 5/5, too.
Running my energy combo I'm in a slightly different position from others here, and for me overall the deck feels fine. It's very weak to Second Approach, competes well with Temur/Black, haven't played enough Red aggro to judge, and mostly good against the rest.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWU Free Stuff Midrange UWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
My greatest hits:
GURFate Reforged Temur Ascendancy COMBORUG
GUDragons of Tarkir Whisperwood Forever UG
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/deck-of-the-day-sultai-energy/
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/35952_From-SCG-Dallas-To-The-World-Championship.html
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=14205&writer=Seth Manfield&articledate=10-4-2017
The second article above doesn't really have much, unfortunately. There's also a link to a video deck tech in the primer.
Hope this helps!
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
4 Decoction Module
4 Fabrication Module
2 Aethersphere Harvester
4 Aethergeode Miner
4 Winding Constrictor
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Walking Ballista
3 Rogue Refiner
1 Architect of the Unknown
4 Servant of the Conduit
2 Bristling Hydra
4 Blooming Marsh
3 Concealed Courtyard
4 Aether Hub
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
4 Botanical Sanctum
1 Island
Spells
4 Attune with Aether
2 Crook of Condemnation
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
4 Fatal Push
2 Confiscation Coup
2 Negate
1 Authority of the Consuls
1 Lost Legacy
2 Duress
Untested, but the thinking is, my deck plays really well when I stick any of Aethergeode Miner, Decoction Module, Fabrication Module, Winding Constrictor and have a bit of energy.
So Servants give us energy and mana, splashing blue gets us more card draw (Siphoners were great when they lived but often died too fast) and with 8 card-draw sources I should be able to quickly draw into some power combos.
No maindeck removal on the theory that apart from Heart of Kiran, they have to stop my game plan more than I theirs. Against mono-red, hope to just clog the board, not sure that's a viable plan but we'll see.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWU Free Stuff Midrange UWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
My greatest hits:
GURFate Reforged Temur Ascendancy COMBORUG
GUDragons of Tarkir Whisperwood Forever UG
this is what i'm going to be running. i was playing temur before but i really really really really love hostage taker.
4 Attune with Aether
4 Blooming Marsh
3 Blossoming Defense
3 Botanical Sanctum
2 Drowned Catacomb
4 Fatal Push
1 Field of Ruin
4 Forest
3 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Hostage Taker
1 Ifnir Deadlands
1 Island
4 Longtusk Cub
2 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
4 Rogue Refiner
1 Swamp
1 The Scarab God
1 Verdurous Gearhulk
1 Vraska, Relic Seeker
4 Walking Ballista
4 Winding Constrictor
1 Carnage Tyrant
3 Duress
2 Lost Legacy
2 Negate
2 Nissa, Steward of Elements
2 Siren Stormtamer
2 Vraska's Contempt
1 Yahenni's Expertise
what are everyone's thoughts?
4 Aether Hub
4 Blooming Marsh
4 Botanical Sanctum
3 Forest
1 Hashep Oasis
2 Ifnir Deadlands
1 Island
2 Swamp
Spells (12)
4 Attune with Aether
3 Blossoming Defense
4 Fatal Push
1 Spell Pierce
3 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Hostage Taker
4 Longtusk Cub
2 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
4 Rogue Refiner
2 The Scarab God
4 Walking Ballista
4 Winding Constrictor
1 Appetite for the Unnatural
2 Vraska's Contempt
2 Negate
4 Duress
4 Deathgorge Scavenger
2 Vraska, Relic Seeker
Took this to FNM and played against BW Tokens, Temur Energy, UW Approach, and Merfolk. Went 4-0, but I feel like it was only because the sideboard package is incredibly stacked at dealing with Control. Negate, Duress, and Spell Pierce combined are brutal. BW Tokens made me feel like I need a sweeper in the sideboard, but Longtusk Cub and The Scarab God managed to pull me through it regardless. Temur Energy is a fun one where I'm glad I have The Scarab God. Bristling Hydra is impossible to remove, but that's not a big deal when I can have a bigger threat and also hit their life total directly with Walking Ballista. Merfolk doesn't really feel like it did anything. Sure it had a bunch of smaller threats and was trying to tempo me out, but when your two drops are Walking Ballista and Longtusk Cub you just win that war. Hostage Taker did some hilarious things too in that matchup.
What I'd want to change going forward is getting that 4th Glint-Sleeve Siphoner back in. Those things make the deck feel super consistent. I'm just not sure what to pull out. I want to keep the spell package given the Spell Pierce is what saved me against UW Control. Double mainboard The Scarab God feels right against any other Midrange deck. I need a sweeper in the side, and I might want to go up on the Negate package. All the red players in my shop seem to have vanished, but I'm not sure I'll change anything about the list because of it. Deathgorge Scavenger is a card that works in many matchups and I'm not ready to drop it even if I managed to dodge the Gifts players this time around. I'd almost like to fit another Appetite for the Unnatural, but the sideboard is already compact and wants sweepers so I'm not sure where to bring that.
The key though is you have to play Blossoming Defense to protect it. Without Blossoming Defense then Confiscation Coup is better, which is what Temur tends to be doing. Blossoming Defense is also pretty good in a Snek deck though too in general since it lets you stick a two drop on turn three through removal, and the deck is overloaded on two drops that the opponent usually feels they need to answer right away. Just sometimes you need to play the delicate balance of waiting on using your Blossoming Defense and making sure you drop your threats with that mana up.
On the side though it looks like Hostage Taker is dropping in price since it didn't show up in Worlds beyond the draft decks.
As for Hostage Taker cost, I feel ya bro! I borrowed a pair last night to complement my pair and run the stock deck. 3-0-1 for second was good for me, but I'll just be rocking my pair until the price comes down a bit. OTOH, if I had a PPTQ this weekend, I would pick up another pair in a hot second.
Coup seems like a decent idea, but UU is awkward for an already strained manabase.
Another budget way to go is with our traditional strengths. With Winding Constictors, our Bristling Hydras are better than Temur's and Verdurous Gearhulk is still a beating. Hostage taker is slow against Aggro anyway. Without Hostage Taker, I cut back on Blossoming Defense to become more threat dense.
I actually think our key card is Glint-Sleeve Siphoner. The card advantage that card provides is what allows us to get beyond one for ones.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Other thoughts on his version of the deck. I still don't like Rishkar. I mean, I understand that a T2 Constrictor into a T3 Rishkar is very strong, and the extra mana can make for additional broken plays, but I just think he's clunky. It's often just a 3/3 for 3 mana dork because the other creature got removed. I'm still a huge fan of Rhonas in the deck, as again, most other decks actively hate Rhonas. He's hard to remove and provides evasion to any other creature, which then turns him online as a huge beater. I also think it's a mistake to not have any Aethersphere Harvesters, as there are so many match-ups where that card was clutch. Blossoming Defense helps out, as it can save a creature from removal and/or stop the "can't block" effects that make the red match-up so rough. Deathgorge Scavenger also helps, but is only semi-repeatable (as it's dependent on the what's in the GY) and easier to remove. Lastly, there's no artifact/enchantment hate in the sideboard. Should there be, or is there insufficient meta evidence of artifact/enchantment relevant cards to have some kind of hate in the sideboard?
I think The Scarab God and Hostage Taker are more impactful mana sinks than Ballista, so that might be part of rationale for siding Ballistas out.
Hostage Taker can take artifacts. I am running Vraska, who can deal with both artifacts and enchantments.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
The Control player doesn't care so much about it T4 (which is when it's a Grizzly Bear that shocks then), but more late game when it comes down as a 3/3 or 4/4. At that point, we have the mana to make it grow (and probably little else in hand to do with our excess mana), and it becomes an extremely dangerous threat. In virtually every Control match-up I've played, I've watched them prioritize removal of Walking Ballista over other cards, even Winding Constrictor. I hear groans when I play it and they don't have a counterspell in hand. Ballista can not attack and win you the game, which can't be said of any other card in the deck. It represents points of damage if it resolves (like a burn spell) if they do have removal, which also can't be said of any other creature. That being said, it doesn't win the game near as quickly or overwhelm the opponent in card advantage as other threats in the deck do, so I usually side out 1-2 of them, but not all of them. And I'm not sure what my sideboarding plan will be going forward, as I've modified my sideboard since SCG Dallas. So who knows, maybe Ballista won't make the cut against Control!
Starting hand contains a couple lands, Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, Longtusk Cub and some other stuff that doesn't use or generate energy.
I played out Siphoner on turn 2 (1 energy), attacked with it on turn 3 (2 energy) and played Cub. I now have two creatures on board competing for the same resource.
What would be the best decision on turn 4? Use the energy to draw off Siphoner, or hold it to pump Cub? (Still don't have another energy producer.)
I'm sure there's a lot of situational considerations here, so I guess what I should ask is: what would be the best choice in this situation vs RR? Temur? U/x control? Or did I make a mistake earlier in the game with my choice of which creature to cast first and if I should have cast the second at all? (And if so, which should be the first play against the "big 3"?)