I don't like the design. Reminds me or Arcane Savant in that it's just not a design I like and the powerlevel is so high that I can exclude it and will be better for it.
As always, thanks for the writeup. I'm pleased this is a relatively lower power set. I think I'm only including 2 cards at 360, and one is just to clear a gold spot replacing Verdict.
This is lots of fun and gives white a combo deck. I've got several white cards on the block: Reveillark, Kor Skyfisher, maybe Gideon Jura. Lots of stuff my drafters have no interest in, and I like testing new cards out, especially when they enable new decks.
I think 6 loyalty is the protection. The looting is good value, and the second +1 will push through damage or act as removal. Big fan of the card, but not a big fan of running 3 walkers, even though they all fit into different shells.
I'm off Looting and back on Sleight of Hand. The card disadvantage is already real when playing Force, plus extra blue cards feels good. We also do have a mana sink in Hexdrinker to make use of the extra lands Wrenn gets.
Moreover, the Wrenn and Six ultimate is super fun and not all that difficult to achieve in grindy games. You either win very soon with Bolts, or you get to do sweet stuff like pitch a land to counter a spell. I've also found a pair of Magmatic Sinkhole to be very good. I'm off Tarfire for now because Wrenn is filling some of that role, and there are more things Sinkhole kills that Tarfire doesn't touch. Think walkers, Thing, TKS, etc.
I had the Delver pseudo scry feth loop going with Wrenn and Six last night, the first time I ever cast it. Cool effect as it marches up to emblem.
I'm going to try out 2 Looting for next week. I'll be down to 24 blue cards, and becausebim playing a set of Forces, I don't want to go lower.
The only real mana intensive play in my build is Hexdrinker, but even then I only need 5 lands to be able to cast it and having it swing at level 8 next turn.
My faith in this deck is restored, though it was against a sampling of 2 decks. What this deck really could use is a Nerset in the sideboard to bring in against decks that go really long like UW Control. That deck shuts down if they can't draw more than once per turn, and we need her dig ability to find answers that can close the game - like Lightning Bolt.
I asked in the discord about Cindervines against UW, but you answered my question here. Good to know.
And for Narset: I'm running one in the board for now, though I have had 2 in the past. I think it's great against UW because the static messes up some of their sequencing. It's hard to tell because it's not actively countering anything. But I think it's great as an engine they can't just answer. UW has a very hard time against it. Phoenix can burn it, but you just cast it and don't activate it right away and then they have to use 2 spells on it. You can activate it when you untap and have the mana to protect it.
Quote from Mikefon »
You did play against the best decks for W6 to shine. I'd like to know how they perform in other MUs. Glad that we have another option though.
True, true. GDS and Jund are both decks where a card advantage engine helps out a ton, like Huntmaster in the older builds. Other decks you want that kind of engine are any flavor of Control or midrange. But you also want the card against go wide creature strategies. The fact that you've got both of those on the same 2 mana card that doesn't die to most easy removal and also wins the game if they cant deal with it is huge to me.
You know how sometimes decks play Grim Lavamancer from the side to deal with small creature decks? Wrenn and Six is like that stapled to Dark Confidant, and you get to choose the most relevant mode each turn, and it activates right away, and it doesn't die to Bolt if you don't want it to. I get that it doesn't flip Delver, but at some point the raw quality of the card overcomes the being slightly off plan.
I'm also debating swapping my Sleight of Hands for a pair of Faithless Looting. I've thought about the swap for a while but have been hesitant to lessen the number of blue cards. But I think I can balance it, and the extra selection combined with the synergy with W6 might make it worth a swap.
Agreed on Hexdrinker being a 4cmc creature against W6 decks.
Played 2x Wrenn and Six tonight, and it was great. Went 1-2-1 overall, which isn't great, but the losses were in very close games against Dredge and Jund. The draw was against a very slow GDS player after a G2 where I ulted a W6, had Blood Moon out, but couldn't find a Bolt to retrace for a long time. G3 got 2 turns in before they called turns. I was in okay shape and it was 50/50.
Not going to bother with a full report on a lackluster night, butI'll say this. You know how Jund runs you out of resources? How would you like to have 5 cards in hand, with 5 lands on board, plus a Goyf and planeswalker on turn 5? Because that's where I was at. I think W6 is the engine we've been waiting for, and all we have to do to play it is ditch 2 flex instants / sorceries anyway. In exchange, we get a machine gun against x/1s, never miss a land drop, and a win con on a different axis. It's great.
Fry is definitely better at killing walkers. Obviously it's narrow, but it does that job plus acts as hardnosed removal for Humans, Thing, and Spirits, too.
Have you played with Hexdrinker? I find it just replaces all the 4cmc threats we've all played in the board, and is something we want anyway as a 1 cmc threat. Off the top in a grindy game, it just wins. But you can also cast it early and chip in for damage, and they have to deal with it before it levels out of control.
I'm with you on Hazoret. It's great against Jund and Rock, but very marginal against the Celestial Colonnade decks, and outside of those matchups, I never found myself bringing it in.
I think Hexdrinker does everything you want against the grindy matchups, but is also very solid in the linear matchups. And you can play 4 of them, and cast them starting turn 1. Hexdrinker has totally changed how the UWx matchups play, and so I don't find myself wanting that extra creature threat from the board. Instead, I'm playing a Narset as a different angle of attack that also has utility against Phoenix, Storm, etc.
1. Channel
2. Natural Order
3. Survival of the Fittest
4. Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
5. Sylvan Library
6. Oath of Druids
7. Gaea's Cradle
8. Primeval Titan
9. Birds of Paradise
10. Craterhoof Behemoth
11. Joraga Treespeaker
12. Plow Under
13. Garruk Wildspeaker
14. Hexdrinker
15. Lotus Cobra
16. Green Sun's Zenith
17. Selvala's Stampede
18. Woodfall Primus
19. Tooth and Nail
20. Reclamation Sage
1. Sulfuric Vortex
2. Sneak Attack
3. Goblin Guide
4. Wheel of Fortune
5. Chandra, Torch of Defiance
6. Wildfire / Burning of Xinye
7. Goblin Rabblemaster
8. Inferno Titan
9. Imperial Recruiter
10. Fiery Confluence
11. Purphoros, God of the Forge
12. Siege-Gang Commander
13. Hellrider
14. Koth of the Hammer
15. Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
16. Young Pyromancer
17. Earthquake
18. Chandra, Flamecaller
19. Lightning Bolt
20. Faithless Looting
Moreover, the Wrenn and Six ultimate is super fun and not all that difficult to achieve in grindy games. You either win very soon with Bolts, or you get to do sweet stuff like pitch a land to counter a spell. I've also found a pair of Magmatic Sinkhole to be very good. I'm off Tarfire for now because Wrenn is filling some of that role, and there are more things Sinkhole kills that Tarfire doesn't touch. Think walkers, Thing, TKS, etc.
1. Mind Twist
2. Demonic Tutor
3. Vampiric Tutor
4. Dark Confidant
5. Recurring Nightmare
6. Liliana of the Veil
7. Braids, Cabal Minion
8. Bitterblossom
9. Toxic Deluge
10. Imperial Seal
11. Thoughtseize
12. Grave Titan
13. Hymn to Tourach
14. Griselbrand
15. Pack Rat
16. Damnation
17. Entomb
18. Duress
19. Liliana, the Last Hope
20. Reanimate
I'm going to try out 2 Looting for next week. I'll be down to 24 blue cards, and becausebim playing a set of Forces, I don't want to go lower.
The only real mana intensive play in my build is Hexdrinker, but even then I only need 5 lands to be able to cast it and having it swing at level 8 next turn.
I asked in the discord about Cindervines against UW, but you answered my question here. Good to know.
And for Narset: I'm running one in the board for now, though I have had 2 in the past. I think it's great against UW because the static messes up some of their sequencing. It's hard to tell because it's not actively countering anything. But I think it's great as an engine they can't just answer. UW has a very hard time against it. Phoenix can burn it, but you just cast it and don't activate it right away and then they have to use 2 spells on it. You can activate it when you untap and have the mana to protect it.
True, true. GDS and Jund are both decks where a card advantage engine helps out a ton, like Huntmaster in the older builds. Other decks you want that kind of engine are any flavor of Control or midrange. But you also want the card against go wide creature strategies. The fact that you've got both of those on the same 2 mana card that doesn't die to most easy removal and also wins the game if they cant deal with it is huge to me.
You know how sometimes decks play Grim Lavamancer from the side to deal with small creature decks? Wrenn and Six is like that stapled to Dark Confidant, and you get to choose the most relevant mode each turn, and it activates right away, and it doesn't die to Bolt if you don't want it to. I get that it doesn't flip Delver, but at some point the raw quality of the card overcomes the being slightly off plan.
I'm also debating swapping my Sleight of Hands for a pair of Faithless Looting. I've thought about the swap for a while but have been hesitant to lessen the number of blue cards. But I think I can balance it, and the extra selection combined with the synergy with W6 might make it worth a swap.
Played 2x Wrenn and Six tonight, and it was great. Went 1-2-1 overall, which isn't great, but the losses were in very close games against Dredge and Jund. The draw was against a very slow GDS player after a G2 where I ulted a W6, had Blood Moon out, but couldn't find a Bolt to retrace for a long time. G3 got 2 turns in before they called turns. I was in okay shape and it was 50/50.
Not going to bother with a full report on a lackluster night, butI'll say this. You know how Jund runs you out of resources? How would you like to have 5 cards in hand, with 5 lands on board, plus a Goyf and planeswalker on turn 5? Because that's where I was at. I think W6 is the engine we've been waiting for, and all we have to do to play it is ditch 2 flex instants / sorceries anyway. In exchange, we get a machine gun against x/1s, never miss a land drop, and a win con on a different axis. It's great.
Have you played with Hexdrinker? I find it just replaces all the 4cmc threats we've all played in the board, and is something we want anyway as a 1 cmc threat. Off the top in a grindy game, it just wins. But you can also cast it early and chip in for damage, and they have to deal with it before it levels out of control.
I think Hexdrinker does everything you want against the grindy matchups, but is also very solid in the linear matchups. And you can play 4 of them, and cast them starting turn 1. Hexdrinker has totally changed how the UWx matchups play, and so I don't find myself wanting that extra creature threat from the board. Instead, I'm playing a Narset as a different angle of attack that also has utility against Phoenix, Storm, etc.