The first time I saw GW Cats it was a Budget Magic list over on MTG Goldfish (read it here). I had actually been mulling over a similar list, but had thrown it on the back burner, until I saw Saffron Olive playing. The list had potential. Despite some misplays, and some card choices I thought were suboptimal, he was winning his games. So I decided to add my spin on it. I kept it budget and started playing some games with it on MTGO in the “Just for Fun” room. (You can read that here). Right away, the deck seemed way too good for that room. After a few days, I decided to move up to the “Tournament Testing” room. Even before adding some more money to the deck, it did very well. So now, I've decided to bite the bullet and put some money in, and the deck
preforms really well. Therefore, and since it's not budget anymore.
Why you should play it
When playing the current standard, there are 2 main things that go into decided what deck to play.
1. Can you beat Energy Midrange?
2. Do you roll over the Ramunap Red?
From my playing, this deck favorably beats all of the Energy variants. Temur is the easiest of the Energy match ups. Card advantage helps you beat their removal. Lifegain helps to turn the corner. Eventually, you're so wide the end of the game is inevitable. Sultai and 4 color are a little bit harder, but they're still favorable match ups. You have to navigate your way through Hostage Takers and manage your GY vs The Scarab God, but they're still favorable matchups.
Ram-Red is a similarly favorable match up. Lifelink is the enemy of red aggro, and this deck has plenty of it. Post board, you have to be ready to deal with Rampaging Ferocidon, but really that seems to be the worst their deck has to throw at you. There are main deck answers to Hazoret the Fervent, and even more in the side.
Through most of the rest of the field, match ups are favorable. Against most decks, you're just value city. You're drawing so many cards that other lists just can't keep up. There are plenty of anthem/lords that you get wider and bigger than almost every deck. Only tokens gets wider, and you're able to grind them out with card advantage and plenty of ways to deal with their token generating ability.
The only non-favorable match up is Approach Control. The non-Approach Variants of control are typically very easy match ups. Through the card draw, you're able to recover from sweepers and grind out the win. Approach Control, however, is a very poor match ups. It's been the impetus for me adding some money to the deck. Sadly, GW doesn't have very many options to stop Approach. I considered adding a 3rd color to help with that matchup, but that just seemed to be worse.
Lands
One of the first choices I made when changed the MTG Goldfish list was to add in Energy. Saffron Olive's Longtusk Cubs just seemed so anemic without more energy in the list. Stronger Cubs and better/smoother mana seemed like a no-brainer. I've seen list/played against lists without energy, and they seem to do worse. Energy is definitely the way to go in this deck.
I can't understate how good the deserts are in managing some matchups. Having the GY management and a way to boost the team built into the mana base comes into play more often than you think. I would probably have more of them if I didn't think it would affect the smoothness of the mana.
Finally, Field of Ruin is a nice 1 of. It can get rid of some of the peskier flip lands, and worst case scenario, it can color fix.
Creatures
There are a limited number of Cats in standard, and in most cases they're very each choices. Metallic Mimic obviously belongs in every tribal deck, and Regal Caracal and Longtusk Cub are the best cats in standard. There's not a lot of hard choices.
The one oddball choice is Aetherstream Leopard. It also provides/consumes energy. The trample helps break through board stalls.
Honorable Mention Cats Pride Sovereign – Makes tokens, gets big. Good cat. Initiate's Companion – Combos with Sovereign to make more cats. Riparian Tiger – Also has energy and tramples. I think it's too expensive, but I can see it working. Scrounging Bandar – Decent cat. Can combo with Metallic Mimic to move an extra counter around.
Card Advantage
This deck revolves around building card advantage. Lifecrafter's Bestiary is so good, it should probably be in any creature deck with green mana. It's so good, that I would probably added it and the green mana necessary, to any mono colored creature deck (like White Monument). It's just a great card!
Vanquisher's Banner is equally good. 1 or 2 copies belong in every Tribal deck along side those Metallic Mimics. It's a good card. I actually go back and forth on whether that 2nd one should be Main Deck. It might end up back in the main.
Shapers' Sanctuary is another great card. This card, especially in multiples, destroys a lot of controlling decks. They spend their mana, you draw replacements. Originally, I had it in the main deck, but controlling builds seem to have fallen off online.
Spells
Attune with Aether – Fixes mana, adds energy to support Hubs and Cubs! Clearly a great spell. If I didn't have them, I'd have add in more lands and probably change out the energy cards. There's probably an argument for both energy and non-energy versions. Cast out/Ixalan's Binding – Pretty standard white removal. Rememer to use a split of these cards so you aren't just blanked by opposing Bindings. Prepare // Fight – This is my own deck tech. When applied properly, this is 4 removal spells. It also helps you stay in it against Ram-Red until you can get the rest of your life gain online. It can be used to save your creatures like a quasi-Blossoming Defense (though clearly not as good as Blossoming Defense in that regard). Originally, I had Blossoming Defense in the deck, but sometimes there are opposing creatures you want to kill that aren't attacking in, or if they are, they're flying. I prefer this.
Honorable Mention
Blossoming Defense – Great card. Has saved many creatures. Heroic Intervention – Another great card. Can save a creature. Can save all your creatures. It can also save other permanents you control. Very versitile. Prey Upon/Nature's Way/Other 'fight' variants – There are lots of problem creatures in Standard and more removal doesn't hurt to have. Especially, if you have a Caracal out.
Sideboard Gideon's Intervention – A great all around card, can really shut down a lot of strategies in standard Gideon of the Trials – Almost exclusively to help the Approach match up. He and Intervention are the only cards that can really save you against Approach. Even with them both in the deck, it's still not a great match up. Cast outs and Bindings abound... Prowling Serpopard – Don't run into a lot of counterspell decks, but they're still out there. Authority of the Consuls – Great card against Ram-Red. I've also found it to be good against Token decks. It really helps to mow through those decks if they can just spawn 4 blockers at a time. I mean, they still spawn them, they just come in tapped.
Cast Out/Binding/Forsake the Worldly – You all know what these are for. Deathgorge Scavenger – This is such a versatile sideboard card. It can help control the GYs for Scarab God/Embalm/Eternalize decks, and even Enigma Drake decks. In addition, it's a great lifegain card against Ram-Red.
***Edit 11/24 - Added more decklists***
and you are right about Heroic Intervention . you MUST get it in your SB.
Heroic Intervention on t5 fumigate=GAME, especially for GPG and approach, which to be bad match up.
Another opt may be keeping 23land and remove 4 attune for getting more empty slots, coz longtusk cub is good enough for beeing the only energy card. (and it will hardly stay on BAttlefield more than 1 turn ^^ )
I prefer Nature's Way to Prepare // Fight, especially with Pride Sovereign.
I'd probably also cut a land and one of the artifacts to go up to 4x Sacred Cat (it isn't great but you need early game plays to get to the late game).
Hey now, Sacred Cat chumps like a pro! He doesn't do much else, but hearing someone sigh from across the table when you embalm your pet cat to block his Longtusk Cub can make a night. Bandages make kitty go faster!
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
In my playing, Pride Sovereign is a win-more. I mean, there are certain matches where it's definitely good and can help out. Ramunap Red comes to mind. Making more lifelink kitties can be a huge help. However, that's not a poor match up and it really doesn't need help. In most other matches, it's making cats, normally slowly, and it's just a big-easily chump blocked body. It does next to nothing to clear a board stall. Aetherstream Leopard on the other hand, tramples through. I know 1 on 1, Soveriegn is definitely the better cat, however, being useful in matches where you need to break though, Sovereign just doesn't get there. If you're playing against any Hidden Stockpile/Anointed Procession decks, having a 10/10 or even a 20/20 cat isn't going to do anything. You'll just be attacking into a single token until they can find the Fumigate that wipes your board.
In matches where you don't have to break though an army of chump blockers, Leopard doesn't kill as fast as Sovereign, but it still kills. With a single boost, it's getting in for 5, and that's a plenty fast clock. Even without a boost, getting in for 4 is a plenty fast clock. I've played with both (and played against Sovereign in the mirror), and Leopard just performs better in the games where you need the help. I'm not gonna say Leopard is the way the deck should be built, but in my games it's definitely been better than Sovereign when I've needed it.
I like Shapers' Sanctuary, but it's stock in my view has went down. If you click on the link to the budget thread I originally started, you'll see it went from 3 in the main, to 2, and ultimately to 2 in the sideboard. Meanwhile,Lifecrafter's Bestiary went from 3 in the Main to 4 in the main and Vanquisher's Banner went from 1 in the main to 1/1 MD/SB to 2 in the main. The reason for those changes is active card draw is better than passive. And for Vanquisher's, it's not the anthem that matters, it's the card draw. This deck isn't a fast deck. It is a midrange/late game deck. You'd be hard pressed to kill someone with cats faster than Turn 6, regardless of your cat line up. So since you're definitely going to find yourself in the mid/late game, you're gonna want the cards that are better in that part of the game.
I suppose you're right with Nature's Way being better with Pride Sovereign. Being able to kill a creature, trample in, and then make tokens is pretty sweet. I chose Prepare // Fight because it can save my creatures (like saving my Regal Caracal from a Glorybringer exert), it can be removal (like baiting my opponents to attack into a seemingly tapped board), and most importantly it adds lifelink, which is devastating to some decks. Now, Nature's Way would be great to going to make Pride Sovereign better in some of those token match ups, but in some of those match ups, I side Prepare//Fight out. They're just not needed in a lot of Monument and Stockpile match ups (where removing non-creature permanents is more effective). I'd hate to be locked into leaving that card in because I know I'll need the trample when a Binding/Cast Out/Intervention would be better.
So, I typed up that whole thing, and then decided "This is stupid. The deck turns on none of those cards, and they're all subject to opinion and preference. I don't want to get bogged down in that debate, because in the end I don't think either choice makes a huge impact on the overall success of the list. **But I spent time typing it, and deleting it would break my heart lol***
I can't argue with Heroic Intervention it's definitely a needed card (I just don't have any at the moment) for the Approach match up (our worst match up). **I actually haven't had any issues with GPG decks. Normally GY/GPG control is more than enough to handle them.**
What else can we do? Even with Gideon of the Trials and Gideon's Intervention and ways to protect them both (ie, Binding/Cast Out their Cast Out/Binding), that match up is still a dog... Adding Gideon definitely helped a lot. I went from losing all of those match ups and all of those games against that match up to losing the match up but sometimes taking a game.
What else can be done? The truth is, aside from Gideon and his Intervention, GW really can't answer that card. Is this a situation where we have to become GW/x? I can't say I'm particularly interested in adding a 3rd color, but I'm sure it can be made to work. Abzan's mana is probably better than Bant's mana, right now. However, Negate would be easier to cast than Lost Legacy. Anyone have any other suggestions? Approach is the big puzzle piece this deck needs to solve.
**edit - Sorry. I saw you mentioned the other thread. I saw it, but it had a lot of cards in it from the previous season, and very few posts relating to this season. There's some good info there, but I figured cats need a Primer that didn't have Dec' N Stones and Selfless Spirits**
It's great to see someone else finally exploring cats in standard! I've been playing a variation of this but it seems my approach is slightly different than the one you took. I stayed away from cards that rely on other cards as much as possible (banner, sanctuary, bestiary) keeping only instants to protect my royal cats. Ironically, the most famous cat in standard is absent from my deck because it just doesn't seem to work. Removing it and Attune with Aether left me with some very nice space to explore other 1 mana and 2 mana drops. It runs so much smoother now. Having no counters and no energy gives some nice sideboarding options against token/energy decks.
Here's my list:
Creatures (20)
4 Sacred Cat -great removal bait with a 2nd life
4 Wily Bandar -removal bait early on, incredibly difficult to kill late game
4 Adorned Pouncer -one of the best cards around for stopping early threats, and opponents hate killing this
4 Pride Sovereign -Only play it when you can protect it, and only attack once, for the win
4 Regal Caracal -your #1 win-con, treat it as such
Spells (8)
3 Heroic Intervention -this in response to mass removal usually results in a conceding opponent
3 Blossoming Defense -protect your royal cats at all costs
2 Prepare // Fight -I could go on for days about the synergy of this card in this deck.
Artifact (1)
1 Mirage Mirror -no one seems to be using this at all and to me that is mind boggling.
The mimic is a great card, and I was running it in the first iterations of the deck. The reason it's no longer in there is the same as for the Banner or the Bestiary.
I want my cards to be as independent of each other as possible, so that when things go wrong, I'm not stuck with a bunch of dead cards. Due to the limited seating space in a deck, in my testing I found that after a board wipe, the creature I was least happy to topdeck was the Mimic.
It can't be worse than Wily Bandar for sure.
That card is not even good in limited.
Having a bunch of 1/1's as your only "threats" besides Sovereign and Caracal isn't good enough.
Most decks can just ignore them and go on with their gameplan.
Longtusk Cub is the best 2-drop in the format for a reason, and you don't even have to change the deck much to support it as Aether Hub
and Attune with Aether help smooth out the deck's mana really well (and play less lands).
I'd not want to play taplands like Scattered Groves in an aggro deck looking to curve out.
I also don't like Heroic intervention as a maindeck card since you won't see sweepers in every game and is often a dead card against aggressive decks. Blossoming Defense is much better as it can help trade up with a bigger creature or at the worst case be 2-damage pump spell.
Mirage Mirror is bad (slow, temporary effect that requires continual sink of mana), any decent cat would be better. Lifecrafter's Bestiary is a much better non-creature option.
The mimic is a great card, and I was running it in the first iterations of the deck. The reason it's no longer in there is the same as for the Banner or the Bestiary.
I want my cards to be as independent of each other as possible, so that when things go wrong, I'm not stuck with a bunch of dead cards. Due to the limited seating space in a deck, in my testing I found that after a board wipe, the creature I was least happy to topdeck was the Mimic.
Does that make sense?
Astuce
I feel like my experience with the deck is different than yours. For me, instead of cards like Lifecrafter's Bestiary (and to a lesser extent Vanquisher's Banner) make the deck. A game where I don't get one of those is a game I feel like something went wrong. Those are the games where I feel like I drew a bunch of dead cards. I'd go so far as to say Bestiary is the best card in the deck (I won't go so far to say Banner is the 2nd best card). If you're worried about post board wipe. Scrying and Drawing will definitely recovery you fastest.
Also, I have to agree with D90Dennis14. Having a bunch of 1/1's isn't going to scare many people. If you have 3 1/1s, it's still a 7 turn clock. I can ignore them for a really long time.
To the Approach match up. I bit the bullet and added U to the deck... The mana base isn't optimal yet because (a) I don't have all cards and (b) I don't think I'm gonna buy Botanical Sanctum. It's out of my budget. (Botanical Sanctums alone pretty much doubled the cost of going Bant). The mana base as is has been passable, which is fine for testing on MTGO.
Added in Heroic Interventions to help with sweepers, Negates to further help with Approaches, while still having Gideon and his Intervention. So far, it's helped a lot. I've been able to win Approach matchups. Probably still not favorable (probably 40/60 or thereabouts), but not an auto-lose, and that's probably all I can hope for without a much stronger commitment to blue.
If anyone has other suggestions to improve this matchup, I'm all ears.
Anyone have any experience with Nissa, Steward of Elements? I have very little. Mostly I've been treating her as Bestiary #5 & #6. Typically, I get her up to 5 loyalty, and then just 0 her for the rest of the game. There have been a couple of games (mostly Approach games, few others) where I've ultimate her to finish an opponent off. Is this the best way to use her? Or should I treat her like most of the other walkers and just head on to Ultimate and get the easy 10 when it presents itself?
Yeah, we definitely play it differently. When D90Dennis14 mentioned "aggro deck" he was probably also looking at it from your same point of view. My "bunch of 1/1's" aren't threats at all, they're my defenses. I only attack once or twice in a game at most. The rest of the time it's shutting down threats and creating more cats. I will try out the bestiary though, you convinced me to give it a shot.
So I've been trying a lot of different things; with the current state of standard being very predictable and boring there has to be a pure metagame deck that can emerge. So I give you Counter-Cats! I'm posting it here because cat lovers are already following this thread
I've actually played against a deck very similar to what you have there. You should try adding Anointed Procession. I also think it's very important to diversify your exile enchantments. Nothing worse than their Binding hitting your Binding (never be the first player to Binding).
This, however, is a very interesting idea. I feel like you're kind of straddling the line between midrange and control. I wonder if it would be better to go more towards one direction or the other. I know there's a deck that marries cats with Approach of the Second Sun (i'm not that familiar with the deck, but I know there's a thread around here somewhere), so I won't discuss that one.
WU midrange cats, on the other hand, sounds appealing. I think if you added in Metallic Mimic you could have something more aggressive. I might have to play around with that idea and see how it floats.
Pretty awesome that you "get" the deck this fast. It's straddling that line hard, and I feel that that's why it wins; people don't know how to play against it. I think that post sideboard is when I would want to go more in one direction, based on the match up. I hadn't thought about Anointed Procession at all, it's worth trying it out.
I feel that if they are also playing binding then I don't mind all that much because it's either an approach/control deck which is a great match up, or a token deck which is also a great match up. Pretty much all the cards in the deck are there as a solution against temur/approach/ramunap. It would do horrible against a balanced "classic" type deck. It's pure metagame and since people have no imagination and all play the same 3 decks I make them pay.
what kind of sideboard are you using with your UW list? I'm interesting in seeing more of the deck. Also, you should look into deck tags instead of individual card tags. It'll make posting so much faster (and easier on me when I add lists to the original post.
I also modified my bant cats a bit since the last list I posted. I started with some inspiration from your list, Astuce.
I tried UW but keeping it more midrange. It turned out, I didn't really like not drawing a ton of cards, so green came back in, but the green creatures didn't. I also took out the attunes and added some more lands in. The deck felt anemic. It was an issue of not having enough creatures to keep feeding the Bestiarys and Banners. I looked at white cats/creatures, and decided they weren't the right way to go. Cub came back in, and with him the Attunes, so I ended up very close to where I started. However, I did clean up the creatures quite a bit, and the deck seems to be running even better. There are some games I miss my trample Leopard, but they aren't numerous.
Clearing out those 2 spots made some room for some MD Negates, and I can say, it's noticeable having some in the main.
Overall, the deck feels like this is my best version so far. I'm having a blast playing it. Here's my updated list.
I also cleaned up the mana base because I was able to finally get the Glacial Fortresses I needed. That probably had the biggest impact on the smoothness of the deck.
My sideboard skills suck. I've stopped playing cats for a bit because of you, and how you made me discover Lifecrafter's Bestiary. Now I'm pretty much full time on my G/U bestiary deck, that I've posted here recently.
Yeah, Bestiary is a very fun card. Probably the most fun card in Standard right now. I've also built a few decks using this card (GW Warrior Tribal). I've actually had to force myself to stop building more decks around it to keep it from ruling my MTG life lol.
As for Bant Cats, I haven't made very many changes since my last post. I've gotten better at sideboarding different match ups (like learning to side out Regal Caracal against control match ups). The only other change I've made to the list is adding Dusk//Dawn to the sideboard. It's pretty much only useful against Dinos (and I don't run into very many of those decks), but having 2 slots to really lock up that match up is a small investment.
Pro Tip - If you find yourself playing against a deck that's going to use Dusk//Dawn against you, side out your Metallic Mimics and don't have 2 Caracals out on the board lol.
Hello, I'm pretty new to MTG but the first deck I did was this one on paper (A friend gave me most of the cats really cheap) Now that Attune is banned I wonder what you guys have in mind, I'm a little worried about not having the energy + color fixing.
Also, do you think the new Huatli, Radiant Champion is good for this deck?
Here is the deck I was thinking on doing, but remember I'm really new so I'm not good at this.
I'll be lurking to see if you update your UW cats I really want to try that one.
Well, first I'd get 4x Sacred Cat because he's just that good and you'll never hate top decking it. I don't feel that Huatli, Radiant Champion will net the kind of results you are looking for with the deck since there is a lot of removal this push that is going to hit the field, thus minimizing her impact on the game. In this sort of build I think going with Oketra the True instead of Huatli, radiant champion may be worth it.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Actually, I'm just going to replace my Attunes with Servants and an extra land. Hopefully, that'll be enough to keep my Aether Hubs powered and keep Bant Cats consistant. I haven't settled on an altered build yet, but it's close.
I don't have a lot of opinions on what non-cats should be played, ie Hautli, Oketra, etc.
However, I do think Lifecrafter's Bestiary and Vanquisher's Banner are HUGE in this deck. Whenever I play a game without one of those in play, the deck feels naked. Bestiary definitely needs to be a full 4-of. I've also run different numbers of Banner, trying 0 main deck, 1 main deck. I feel like I can't live without 2. I kind of would like to go up to 3, but, in addition to being hard pressed to cut something, I don't like adding another 5 drop to the deck.
I think something else that needs to be addressed is the same problem I've been talking about from the beginning. Approach should make a comeback with Ruins and Energy getting the nerf stick. How does GW Cats deal with it? I added blue and that helped a lot. Adding black could also help. However, if we don't add a color, what can we do? Heroic Intervention, Gideon's Intervention and Gideon all help, but it still doesn't seem to be enough.
Recently mapped this out, using radiant destiny over vanquishers banner. Give up some of the card draw to lower the curve, but ascend isn't too hard to hit. I feel like against approach is it Gideon, his intervention and some bindings to hit the win?
Cats is a midrange deck. I don't think lowering the curve slightly has as much impact as the extra gas in the mid to late game. I'm not saying we should go nuts with the expensive cards (which is why I'm not adding in that new 6 drop Anthem/card draw whose name escapes me ATM. That, and I run Nissa), but I don't think a lower curve is better than draw more cards.
Also, I'm not completely sure it's an either/or scenario. I can imagine decks that are playing both. Especially in a UW build. A UW build wouldn't have Bestiary (which is the only reason I can think of to play green in a cats build) and would have plenty of free space in he 3-drop slot. I'm sure there's room for both in a GW build as well.
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The first time I saw GW Cats it was a Budget Magic list over on MTG Goldfish (read it here). I had actually been mulling over a similar list, but had thrown it on the back burner, until I saw Saffron Olive playing. The list had potential. Despite some misplays, and some card choices I thought were suboptimal, he was winning his games. So I decided to add my spin on it. I kept it budget and started playing some games with it on MTGO in the “Just for Fun” room. (You can read that here). Right away, the deck seemed way too good for that room. After a few days, I decided to move up to the “Tournament Testing” room. Even before adding some more money to the deck, it did very well. So now, I've decided to bite the bullet and put some money in, and the deck
preforms really well. Therefore, and since it's not budget anymore.
Why you should play it
When playing the current standard, there are 2 main things that go into decided what deck to play.
1. Can you beat Energy Midrange?
2. Do you roll over the Ramunap Red?
From my playing, this deck favorably beats all of the Energy variants. Temur is the easiest of the Energy match ups. Card advantage helps you beat their removal. Lifegain helps to turn the corner. Eventually, you're so wide the end of the game is inevitable. Sultai and 4 color are a little bit harder, but they're still favorable match ups. You have to navigate your way through Hostage Takers and manage your GY vs The Scarab God, but they're still favorable matchups.
Ram-Red is a similarly favorable match up. Lifelink is the enemy of red aggro, and this deck has plenty of it. Post board, you have to be ready to deal with Rampaging Ferocidon, but really that seems to be the worst their deck has to throw at you. There are main deck answers to Hazoret the Fervent, and even more in the side.
Through most of the rest of the field, match ups are favorable. Against most decks, you're just value city. You're drawing so many cards that other lists just can't keep up. There are plenty of anthem/lords that you get wider and bigger than almost every deck. Only tokens gets wider, and you're able to grind them out with card advantage and plenty of ways to deal with their token generating ability.
The only non-favorable match up is Approach Control. The non-Approach Variants of control are typically very easy match ups. Through the card draw, you're able to recover from sweepers and grind out the win. Approach Control, however, is a very poor match ups. It's been the impetus for me adding some money to the deck. Sadly, GW doesn't have very many options to stop Approach. I considered adding a 3rd color to help with that matchup, but that just seemed to be worse.
Decklist(s)
Selesnya Cats
4 Adorned Pouncer
3 Aetherstream Leopard
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Metallic Mimic
2 Prowling Serpopard
4 Regal Caracal
2 Sacred Cat
Enchantments 3
2 Cast Out
1 Ixalan's Binding
Artifacts 5
4 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
1 Vanquisher's Banner
2 Prepare // Fight
Sorceries 4
4 Attune with Aether
Lands 23
4 Aether Hub
1 Field of Ruin
6 Forest
2 Plains
2 Scattered Groves
2 Scavenger Grounds
2 Shefet Dunes
4 Sunpetal Grove
2 Deathgorge Scavenger
2 Prowling Serpopard
2 Gideon of the Trials
2 Authority of the Consuls
2 Gideon's Intervention
1 Ixalan's Binding
2 Shapers' Sanctuary
1 Vanquisher's Banner
1 Forsake the Worldly
7 Forest
2 Hashep Oasis
7 Plains
2 Scavenger Grounds
2 Shefet Dunes
4 Sunpetal Grove
Enchantments
3 Cast Out
Instants
4 Blossoming Defense
3 Prepare // Fight
4 Adorned Pouncer
3 Initiate's Companion
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Pride Sovereign
3 Prowling Serpopard
4 Regal Caracal
4 Sacred Cat
2 Demystify
2 Dissenter's Deliverance
1 Forsake the Worldly
2 Gideon of the Trials
2 Gideon's Intervention
2 Heroic Intervention
1 Prepare // Fight
2 Settle the Wreckage
1 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
4 Sacred Cat
4 Wily Bandar
4 Adorned Pouncer
4 Pride Sovereign
4 Regal Caracal
3 Heroic Intervention
3 Blossoming Defense
2 Prepare // Fight
Artifact (1)
1 Mirage Mirror
Enchantment (6)
3 Ixalan's Binding
3 Cast Out
6 Forest
7 Plains
4 Scattered Groves
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Unclaimed Territory
Bant Cats
4 Sacred Cat
4 Adorned Pouncer
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Regal Caracal
Instants 4
2 Negate
2 Prepare // Fight
Sorceries 4
4 Attune with Aether
Artifacts 6
4 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
2 Vanquisher's Banner
Enchantments 2
1 Cast Out
1 Ixalan's Binding
2 Nissa, Steward of Elements
Lands 22
4 Aether Hub
3 Forest
1 Island
2 Plains
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sunpetal Grove
1 Irrigated Farmland
1 Scatter Groves
1 Shefet Dune
1 Scavenger Grounds
2 Authority of the Consuls
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Gideon's Intervention
1 Ixalan's Binding
2 Negate
2 Heroic Intervention
2 Deathgorge Scavenger
2 Prowling Serpopard
4 Adorned Pouncer
2 Aetherstream Leopard
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Regal Caracal
3 Sacred Cat
Planeswalkers 2
2 Nissa, Steward of Elements
Enchantments 3
1 Cast Out
1 Gideon's Intervention
1 Ixalan's Binding
Artifacts 6
4 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
2 Vanquisher's Banner
2 Prepare // Fight
Sorceries 4
4 Attune with Aether
Lands 22
4 Aether Hub
2 Forest
1 Glacial Fortress
3 Irrigated Farmland
1 Island
2 Plains
2 Scattered Groves
2 Scavenger Grounds
1 Shefet Dunes
4 Sunpetal Grove
2 Deathgorge Scavenger
2 Prowling Serpopard
2 Gideon of the Trials
2 Authority of the Consuls
1 Gideon's Intervention
1 Ixalan's Binding
2 Heroic Intervention
3 Negate
Azorious Cats
4 Adorned Pouncer
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Regal Caracal
4 Sacred Cat
Enchantments 6
2 Anointed Procession
1 Cast Out
1 Ixalan's Binding
2 Radiant Destiny
Artifacts 3
1 The Immortal Sun
2 Vanquisher's Banner
2 Revolutionary Rebuff
4 Supreme Will
Sorceries 4
4 Chart a Course
Lands
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Field of Ruin
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
5 Island
4 Plains
2 Scavenger Grounds
1 Shefet Dunes
2 Angel of Sanctions
1 Sunscourge Champion
2 Gideon of the Trials
2 Authority of the Consuls
1 Gideon's Intervention
1 Vanquisher's Banner
2 Farm // Market
2 Negate
2 Dusk // Dawn
4 Sacred Cat
4 God-Pharaoh's Faithful
4 Adorned Pouncer
4 Champion of Wits
4 Regal Caracal
1 Thaumatic Compass
Enchantments (4)
4 Ixalan's Binding
Spells (9)
3 Negate
3 Essence Scatter
3 Supreme Will
1 Gideon of the Trials
Land (25)
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
8 Island
9 Plains
Card Choice
Lands
One of the first choices I made when changed the MTG Goldfish list was to add in Energy. Saffron Olive's Longtusk Cubs just seemed so anemic without more energy in the list. Stronger Cubs and better/smoother mana seemed like a no-brainer. I've seen list/played against lists without energy, and they seem to do worse. Energy is definitely the way to go in this deck.
I can't understate how good the deserts are in managing some matchups. Having the GY management and a way to boost the team built into the mana base comes into play more often than you think. I would probably have more of them if I didn't think it would affect the smoothness of the mana.
Finally, Field of Ruin is a nice 1 of. It can get rid of some of the peskier flip lands, and worst case scenario, it can color fix.
Creatures
There are a limited number of Cats in standard, and in most cases they're very each choices. Metallic Mimic obviously belongs in every tribal deck, and Regal Caracal and Longtusk Cub are the best cats in standard. There's not a lot of hard choices.
The one oddball choice is Aetherstream Leopard. It also provides/consumes energy. The trample helps break through board stalls.
Honorable Mention Cats
Pride Sovereign – Makes tokens, gets big. Good cat.
Initiate's Companion – Combos with Sovereign to make more cats.
Riparian Tiger – Also has energy and tramples. I think it's too expensive, but I can see it working.
Scrounging Bandar – Decent cat. Can combo with Metallic Mimic to move an extra counter around.
Card Advantage
This deck revolves around building card advantage. Lifecrafter's Bestiary is so good, it should probably be in any creature deck with green mana. It's so good, that I would probably added it and the green mana necessary, to any mono colored creature deck (like White Monument). It's just a great card!
Vanquisher's Banner is equally good. 1 or 2 copies belong in every Tribal deck along side those Metallic Mimics. It's a good card. I actually go back and forth on whether that 2nd one should be Main Deck. It might end up back in the main.
Shapers' Sanctuary is another great card. This card, especially in multiples, destroys a lot of controlling decks. They spend their mana, you draw replacements. Originally, I had it in the main deck, but controlling builds seem to have fallen off online.
Spells
Attune with Aether – Fixes mana, adds energy to support Hubs and Cubs! Clearly a great spell. If I didn't have them, I'd have add in more lands and probably change out the energy cards. There's probably an argument for both energy and non-energy versions.
Cast out/Ixalan's Binding – Pretty standard white removal. Rememer to use a split of these cards so you aren't just blanked by opposing Bindings.
Prepare // Fight – This is my own deck tech. When applied properly, this is 4 removal spells. It also helps you stay in it against Ram-Red until you can get the rest of your life gain online. It can be used to save your creatures like a quasi-Blossoming Defense (though clearly not as good as Blossoming Defense in that regard). Originally, I had Blossoming Defense in the deck, but sometimes there are opposing creatures you want to kill that aren't attacking in, or if they are, they're flying. I prefer this.
Honorable Mention
Blossoming Defense – Great card. Has saved many creatures.
Heroic Intervention – Another great card. Can save a creature. Can save all your creatures. It can also save other permanents you control. Very versitile.
Prey Upon/Nature's Way/Other 'fight' variants – There are lots of problem creatures in Standard and more removal doesn't hurt to have. Especially, if you have a Caracal out.
Sideboard
Gideon's Intervention – A great all around card, can really shut down a lot of strategies in standard
Gideon of the Trials – Almost exclusively to help the Approach match up. He and Intervention are the only cards that can really save you against Approach. Even with them both in the deck, it's still not a great match up. Cast outs and Bindings abound...
Prowling Serpopard – Don't run into a lot of counterspell decks, but they're still out there.
Authority of the Consuls – Great card against Ram-Red. I've also found it to be good against Token decks. It really helps to mow through those decks if they can just spawn 4 blockers at a time. I mean, they still spawn them, they just come in tapped.
Cast Out/Binding/Forsake the Worldly – You all know what these are for.
Deathgorge Scavenger – This is such a versatile sideboard card. It can help control the GYs for Scarab God/Embalm/Eternalize decks, and even Enigma Drake decks. In addition, it's a great lifegain card against Ram-Red.
***Edit 11/24 - Added more decklists***
I never played Cat, but am thinkg about...
some suggestions :
=>23 lands and 4 attune with eather seems a lot. I would try 21, or max 22, no more, especially with 4 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
=>i am not fan of Vanquisher's Banner, i prefer Shapers' Sanctuary which gives you ton of value in the early game.
Vanquisher's Banner seems better in midrange/late game, and you want to kill your opponent before
and you already get Metallic mimic and regal caracal for pump your kitties.
=>Pride Sovereign > Prowling Serpopard, no way to speak about
and you are right about Heroic Intervention . you MUST get it in your SB.
Heroic Intervention on t5 fumigate=GAME, especially for GPG and approach, which to be bad match up.
i would test this
-2 Aetherstream Leopard
-1 Vanquisher's Banner
-2 Prowling Serpopard
-2 Land
-1 Lifecrafter's Bestiary (or not)
+4 Shapers' Sanctuary (coz you want it on t1)
+3 Pride Sovereign
Another opt may be keeping 23land and remove 4 attune for getting more empty slots, coz longtusk cub is good enough for beeing the only energy card. (and it will hardly stay on BAttlefield more than 1 turn ^^ )
Aetherstream Leopard isn't good enough and isn't even comparable to Pride Sovereign.
I prefer Nature's Way to Prepare // Fight, especially with Pride Sovereign.
I'd probably also cut a land and one of the artifacts to go up to 4x Sacred Cat (it isn't great but you need early game plays to get to the late game).
Btw, here is the old primer which can be included here as well.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/standard-type-2/deck-creation-standard/780028-primer-cats-soft-kitty-warm-kitty
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
In my playing, Pride Sovereign is a win-more. I mean, there are certain matches where it's definitely good and can help out. Ramunap Red comes to mind. Making more lifelink kitties can be a huge help. However, that's not a poor match up and it really doesn't need help. In most other matches, it's making cats, normally slowly, and it's just a big-easily chump blocked body. It does next to nothing to clear a board stall. Aetherstream Leopard on the other hand, tramples through. I know 1 on 1, Soveriegn is definitely the better cat, however, being useful in matches where you need to break though, Sovereign just doesn't get there. If you're playing against any Hidden Stockpile/Anointed Procession decks, having a 10/10 or even a 20/20 cat isn't going to do anything. You'll just be attacking into a single token until they can find the Fumigate that wipes your board.
In matches where you don't have to break though an army of chump blockers, Leopard doesn't kill as fast as Sovereign, but it still kills. With a single boost, it's getting in for 5, and that's a plenty fast clock. Even without a boost, getting in for 4 is a plenty fast clock. I've played with both (and played against Sovereign in the mirror), and Leopard just performs better in the games where you need the help. I'm not gonna say Leopard is the way the deck should be built, but in my games it's definitely been better than Sovereign when I've needed it.
I like Shapers' Sanctuary, but it's stock in my view has went down. If you click on the link to the budget thread I originally started, you'll see it went from 3 in the main, to 2, and ultimately to 2 in the sideboard. Meanwhile,Lifecrafter's Bestiary went from 3 in the Main to 4 in the main and Vanquisher's Banner went from 1 in the main to 1/1 MD/SB to 2 in the main. The reason for those changes is active card draw is better than passive. And for Vanquisher's, it's not the anthem that matters, it's the card draw. This deck isn't a fast deck. It is a midrange/late game deck. You'd be hard pressed to kill someone with cats faster than Turn 6, regardless of your cat line up. So since you're definitely going to find yourself in the mid/late game, you're gonna want the cards that are better in that part of the game.
I suppose you're right with Nature's Way being better with Pride Sovereign. Being able to kill a creature, trample in, and then make tokens is pretty sweet. I chose Prepare // Fight because it can save my creatures (like saving my Regal Caracal from a Glorybringer exert), it can be removal (like baiting my opponents to attack into a seemingly tapped board), and most importantly it adds lifelink, which is devastating to some decks. Now, Nature's Way would be great to going to make Pride Sovereign better in some of those token match ups, but in some of those match ups, I side Prepare//Fight out. They're just not needed in a lot of Monument and Stockpile match ups (where removing non-creature permanents is more effective). I'd hate to be locked into leaving that card in because I know I'll need the trample when a Binding/Cast Out/Intervention would be better.
So, I typed up that whole thing, and then decided "This is stupid. The deck turns on none of those cards, and they're all subject to opinion and preference. I don't want to get bogged down in that debate, because in the end I don't think either choice makes a huge impact on the overall success of the list. **But I spent time typing it, and deleting it would break my heart lol***
What does impact the success of the list is being better against Approach of the Second Sun.
I can't argue with Heroic Intervention it's definitely a needed card (I just don't have any at the moment) for the Approach match up (our worst match up). **I actually haven't had any issues with GPG decks. Normally GY/GPG control is more than enough to handle them.**
What else can we do? Even with Gideon of the Trials and Gideon's Intervention and ways to protect them both (ie, Binding/Cast Out their Cast Out/Binding), that match up is still a dog... Adding Gideon definitely helped a lot. I went from losing all of those match ups and all of those games against that match up to losing the match up but sometimes taking a game.
What else can be done? The truth is, aside from Gideon and his Intervention, GW really can't answer that card. Is this a situation where we have to become GW/x? I can't say I'm particularly interested in adding a 3rd color, but I'm sure it can be made to work. Abzan's mana is probably better than Bant's mana, right now. However, Negate would be easier to cast than Lost Legacy. Anyone have any other suggestions? Approach is the big puzzle piece this deck needs to solve.
**edit - Sorry. I saw you mentioned the other thread. I saw it, but it had a lot of cards in it from the previous season, and very few posts relating to this season. There's some good info there, but I figured cats need a Primer that didn't have Dec' N Stones and Selfless Spirits**
Here's my list:
Creatures (20)
4 Sacred Cat -great removal bait with a 2nd life
4 Wily Bandar -removal bait early on, incredibly difficult to kill late game
4 Adorned Pouncer -one of the best cards around for stopping early threats, and opponents hate killing this
4 Pride Sovereign -Only play it when you can protect it, and only attack once, for the win
4 Regal Caracal -your #1 win-con, treat it as such
Spells (8)
3 Heroic Intervention -this in response to mass removal usually results in a conceding opponent
3 Blossoming Defense -protect your royal cats at all costs
2 Prepare // Fight -I could go on for days about the synergy of this card in this deck.
Artifact (1)
1 Mirage Mirror -no one seems to be using this at all and to me that is mind boggling.
Enchantment (6)
3 Ixalan's Binding -a great permanent solution to combos/engines
3 Cast Out -a staple
Land (25)
6 Forest
7 Plains
4 Scattered Groves
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Unclaimed Territory -cats!
Astuce
Aside from that, and more pertinent to your deck, why not Metallic Mimic?
I want my cards to be as independent of each other as possible, so that when things go wrong, I'm not stuck with a bunch of dead cards. Due to the limited seating space in a deck, in my testing I found that after a board wipe, the creature I was least happy to topdeck was the Mimic.
Does that make sense?
Astuce
That card is not even good in limited.
Having a bunch of 1/1's as your only "threats" besides Sovereign and Caracal isn't good enough.
Most decks can just ignore them and go on with their gameplan.
Longtusk Cub is the best 2-drop in the format for a reason, and you don't even have to change the deck much to support it as Aether Hub
and Attune with Aether help smooth out the deck's mana really well (and play less lands).
I'd not want to play taplands like Scattered Groves in an aggro deck looking to curve out.
I also don't like Heroic intervention as a maindeck card since you won't see sweepers in every game and is often a dead card against aggressive decks.
Blossoming Defense is much better as it can help trade up with a bigger creature or at the worst case be 2-damage pump spell.
Mirage Mirror is bad (slow, temporary effect that requires continual sink of mana), any decent cat would be better.
Lifecrafter's Bestiary is a much better non-creature option.
Also, I have to agree with D90Dennis14. Having a bunch of 1/1's isn't going to scare many people. If you have 3 1/1s, it's still a 7 turn clock. I can ignore them for a really long time.
4 Adorned Pouncer
2 Aetherstream Leopard
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Regal Caracal
3 Sacred Cat
Planeswalkers 2
2 Nissa, Steward of Elements
Enchantments 3
1 Cast Out
1 Gideon's Intervention
1 Ixalan's Binding
Artifacts 6
4 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
2 Vanquisher's Banner
2 Prepare // Fight
Sorceries 4
4 Attune with Aether
Lands 22
4 Aether Hub
2 Forest
1 Glacial Fortress
3 Irrigated Farmland
1 Island
2 Plains
2 Scattered Groves
2 Scavenger Grounds
1 Shefet Dunes
4 Sunpetal Grove
2 Deathgorge Scavenger
2 Prowling Serpopard
2 Gideon of the Trials
2 Authority of the Consuls
1 Gideon's Intervention
1 Ixalan's Binding
2 Heroic Intervention
3 Negate
To the Approach match up. I bit the bullet and added U to the deck... The mana base isn't optimal yet because (a) I don't have all cards and (b) I don't think I'm gonna buy Botanical Sanctum. It's out of my budget. (Botanical Sanctums alone pretty much doubled the cost of going Bant). The mana base as is has been passable, which is fine for testing on MTGO.
Added in Heroic Interventions to help with sweepers, Negates to further help with Approaches, while still having Gideon and his Intervention. So far, it's helped a lot. I've been able to win Approach matchups. Probably still not favorable (probably 40/60 or thereabouts), but not an auto-lose, and that's probably all I can hope for without a much stronger commitment to blue.
If anyone has other suggestions to improve this matchup, I'm all ears.
Anyone have any experience with Nissa, Steward of Elements? I have very little. Mostly I've been treating her as Bestiary #5 & #6. Typically, I get her up to 5 loyalty, and then just 0 her for the rest of the game. There have been a couple of games (mostly Approach games, few others) where I've ultimate her to finish an opponent off. Is this the best way to use her? Or should I treat her like most of the other walkers and just head on to Ultimate and get the easy 10 when it presents itself?
cheers,
Astuce
Creatures (20)
4 Sacred Cat
4 God-Pharaoh's Faithful
4 Adorned Pouncer
4 Champion of Wits
4 Regal Caracal
Artifacts (1)
1 Thaumatic Compass
Enchantments (4)
4 Ixalan's Binding
Spells (9)
3 Negate
3 Essence Scatter
3 Supreme Will
Planeswalker (1)
1 Gideon of the Trials
Land (25)
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
8 Island
9 Plains
It shouldn't work, but it does, and it does really well. Give it a shot!
Astuce
This, however, is a very interesting idea. I feel like you're kind of straddling the line between midrange and control. I wonder if it would be better to go more towards one direction or the other. I know there's a deck that marries cats with Approach of the Second Sun (i'm not that familiar with the deck, but I know there's a thread around here somewhere), so I won't discuss that one.
WU midrange cats, on the other hand, sounds appealing. I think if you added in Metallic Mimic you could have something more aggressive. I might have to play around with that idea and see how it floats.
I feel that if they are also playing binding then I don't mind all that much because it's either an approach/control deck which is a great match up, or a token deck which is also a great match up. Pretty much all the cards in the deck are there as a solution against temur/approach/ramunap. It would do horrible against a balanced "classic" type deck. It's pure metagame and since people have no imagination and all play the same 3 decks I make them pay.
cheers,
Astuce
I tried UW but keeping it more midrange. It turned out, I didn't really like not drawing a ton of cards, so green came back in, but the green creatures didn't. I also took out the attunes and added some more lands in. The deck felt anemic. It was an issue of not having enough creatures to keep feeding the Bestiarys and Banners. I looked at white cats/creatures, and decided they weren't the right way to go. Cub came back in, and with him the Attunes, so I ended up very close to where I started. However, I did clean up the creatures quite a bit, and the deck seems to be running even better. There are some games I miss my trample Leopard, but they aren't numerous.
Clearing out those 2 spots made some room for some MD Negates, and I can say, it's noticeable having some in the main.
Overall, the deck feels like this is my best version so far. I'm having a blast playing it. Here's my updated list.
4 Sacred Cat
4 Adorned Pouncer
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Regal Caracal
Instants 4
2 Negate
2 Prepare // Fight
Sorceries 4
4 Attune with Aether
Artifacts 6
4 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
2 Vanquisher's Banner
Enchantments 2
1 Cast Out
1 Ixalan's Binding
2 Nissa, Steward of Elements
Lands 22
4 Aether Hub
3 Forest
1 Island
2 Plains
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sunpetal Grove
1 Irrigated Farmland
1 Scatter Groves
1 Shefet Dune
1 Scavenger Grounds
2 Authority of the Consuls
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Gideon's Intervention
1 Ixalan's Binding
2 Negate
2 Heroic Intervention
2 Deathgorge Scavenger
2 Prowling Serpopard
1 Sunscourge Champion
I also cleaned up the mana base because I was able to finally get the Glacial Fortresses I needed. That probably had the biggest impact on the smoothness of the deck.
cheers,
Astuce
As for Bant Cats, I haven't made very many changes since my last post. I've gotten better at sideboarding different match ups (like learning to side out Regal Caracal against control match ups). The only other change I've made to the list is adding Dusk//Dawn to the sideboard. It's pretty much only useful against Dinos (and I don't run into very many of those decks), but having 2 slots to really lock up that match up is a small investment.
Pro Tip - If you find yourself playing against a deck that's going to use Dusk//Dawn against you, side out your Metallic Mimics and don't have 2 Caracals out on the board lol.
Well, first I'd get 4x Sacred Cat because he's just that good and you'll never hate top decking it. I don't feel that Huatli, Radiant Champion will net the kind of results you are looking for with the deck since there is a lot of removal this push that is going to hit the field, thus minimizing her impact on the game. In this sort of build I think going with Oketra the True instead of Huatli, radiant champion may be worth it.
I would push for more of a mid-range build and add more removal. Probably up the number of Prowling Serpopard to 4, drop the Longtusk Cub and Lifecrafter's Bestiary, add in a Ixalan's Binding and two Settle the wreckage.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Lifecradter's Bestiary is actually really good if you're going in a midrange direction.
I'd go with Baffling End as the maindeck removal card as its easier to play on curve than Cast Out which can move to the SB.
I'm not particulary impressed with Huatli and would rather play Radiant Destiny as an additional anthem.
Here is how'd go with the deck:
4x Sacred Cat
4x Adorned Pouncer
4x Longtusk Cub
4x Metallic Mimic
4x Pride Sovereign
4x Prowling Serpopard
4x Regal Caracal
4x Baffling End
2x Radiant Destiny
Instants (4)
4x Blossoming Defense
Lands (22)
4x Aether Hub
5x Forest
5x Plains
4x Unclaimed Territory
4x Sunpetal Grove
2x Authority of the Consuls
2x Shapers' Sanctuary
3x Lifecrafter's Bestiary
2x Ixalan's Binding
4x Cast Out
2x Heroic Intervention
I don't have a lot of opinions on what non-cats should be played, ie Hautli, Oketra, etc.
However, I do think Lifecrafter's Bestiary and Vanquisher's Banner are HUGE in this deck. Whenever I play a game without one of those in play, the deck feels naked. Bestiary definitely needs to be a full 4-of. I've also run different numbers of Banner, trying 0 main deck, 1 main deck. I feel like I can't live without 2. I kind of would like to go up to 3, but, in addition to being hard pressed to cut something, I don't like adding another 5 drop to the deck.
I think something else that needs to be addressed is the same problem I've been talking about from the beginning. Approach should make a comeback with Ruins and Energy getting the nerf stick. How does GW Cats deal with it? I added blue and that helped a lot. Adding black could also help. However, if we don't add a color, what can we do? Heroic Intervention, Gideon's Intervention and Gideon all help, but it still doesn't seem to be enough.
Also, I'm not completely sure it's an either/or scenario. I can imagine decks that are playing both. Especially in a UW build. A UW build wouldn't have Bestiary (which is the only reason I can think of to play green in a cats build) and would have plenty of free space in he 3-drop slot. I'm sure there's room for both in a GW build as well.