So I'm trying to get back into modern again since I stopped playing quite a while back. I had played this deck but last time I played fatal push had just come out. What is the current stock list for this meta?
I'm not sure if you're on a budget, but I can name some cards that could help your plan.
Fecundity: If you can abuse this effect more than your opponent you could draw a lot of cards. Could abuse dredge this way if you have a discard outlet to freely discard them.
Beseech the Queen: If you can't afford to get the more expensive tutors like Demonic Tutor or Vampiric Tutor, this tutor is good enough to do what you want.
Hornet Queen: Another token generator. Also helps that it's tokens have deathtouch and flying which are good against flyers. If you have Nim Deathmantle + Ashnod's Altar and this card , it can help you make infinite flyers.
Triskelion and/or Walking Ballista: Well you have Mikeaus, the Unhallowed in your deck... If you're not unapposed to using infinite combos either one works. Triskelion is budget friendlier than Walking Ballista at the moment.
Reanimate,Animate Dead, Necromancy: Cheaper reanimation effects that don't have conditions like victimize that you are currently running now. Animate Dead is currently cheaper than the other two card iirc.
When I made an Alesha deck some time ago I had it build as a infinite combo deck. I only played Alesha, Who Smiles at Death when I needed her to reanimate the pieces of the combos I needed to win with or just as an early blocker. My favorite moments of playing this deck is killing my opponent on their combat step using the combo Goblin Bombardment + Ashnod's Altar + Nim's Deathmantle + a token maker that makes at least 2 or 3 tokens for a million damage. Mind you the deck wasn't always the fastest deck but when no one notices what you're doing you can kill them out of nowhere. The deck was pretty resilient and had multiple infinites as a way to win in case other pieces got removed or exiled. I think it was the only deck I made in which I had to do the most thinking for. Was fun for a while before I broke it up.
Have you considered using the sorcery speed cantrips like Ponder and Preordain? I think it would help the deck in filtering out the cards you don't want to see in the early turns of the game.
I would also like to hear your thoughts on whether you'd like the idea of using more flash creatures to go along with the Mystical Teachings in your list. I know it's a card with at most two uses (More depending if Pull from Eternity is played in the deck and ways to reuse it), but grabbing silver bullet flash creatures like Aven Mindcensor, Venser, Shaper Savant, Hushwing Gryff for when the situation calls for it seems like a cool idea.
It's probably not as good here but I'd like the idea of using Sacred Mesa to make X flying 1/1 ponies as a means of a win con/mana sink.
Like the above poster I think Evacuation would be better mass removal spell to use than Aetherspout. Settle the Wreckage would also work as well and has the added bonus of exiling creatures you don't want to see. Even better with an Aven Mindcensor on the field.
In my meta I've seen more activated creature deck builds like Feldon and Ezuri decks. It's really to slow them down a bit. The 3/4 body helps punch face especially when equipped with the one of two swords in the list.
I did play around with Wall of Reverence and most of the time the 1-2 life gain per turn wasn't very helpful. I had played around with/considered other life gain cards like Umezawa's Jitte, Sword of Light and Shadow, and Filigree Familiar. I also considered the Resolute Arcangelthat the other Jenara Player ZenN had mentioned in his thread but I'm unsure about using it since other than the life-resetting, its not that great of a card. I had liked the idea of Oketra's Last Mercy since I can mitigate the lack of untapping with Sword of Feast and Famine.
I still play this Bant list as my go to when I want to play control and the differences from his list (Last time he updated) and mine are the following:
Funny how after looking at ISBPathfinder's list I didn't notice some of the cards I added were cards I thought he already had in already i.e Polluted Delta, Counterspell and Tragic Arrogance. He had talked about Tragic Arrogance a lot that I assumed it was in his list already. Otherwise most of my choices were based on my meta or trying to make my list faster.
So I recently bought a Candelabra of Tawnos from a store on TCGplayer recently and I just wanted to know if it looks legit to you guys. Unfortunately I can't upload the pic onto the thread because the file image is too large. I will provide a link to the image here
I scanned this using my printer at 1200 dpi as I have seem other people mention before on other threads asking about whether their cards are fake or not. I have yet to do any other test yet because I'm not too sure if I even do the light test correctly. I don't own a black light to test it either. The card feels like any other magic card to me. Not glossy either. A friend of mine says it looks good but it can't hurt to ask more people who may know more about it. I am using a perfect fit to hold the card in because I didn't want to damage the card in case I had to return it back because it was fake.
You can also try an Astral Slide version of the deck idea as well using it to blink out your creatures or your opponent's ones as well. I don't like the astral slide version because you kind of have to play with some not so great cycle card and no way to recur them back to your hand but it could fix the draw problem in the colors. Regardless of which version of the deck you'll still have to win by attacking your opponent though.
I like the god but I feel it's too all in on the god. Either you build around it or don't play at all. I wish there was a way to make this deck and not rely on The Locust God that much.
I don't see a way to break Faces of the Past that it would be an auto include in every version of the locus god deck but here's a nifty combo I thought of just now. Faces of the Past + Sac outlet of choice + Opposition + some amount of insect tokens. Tap down your opponent's lands, sac a token which prompts the Faces of the Past to untap your insects and repeat until you run out of insects to sac or you've tapped down every land your opponent's control. Then on your turn you land a Winter Orb and make your opponents cry. But it's kind of makes it a win more card at that point and you could just use Paradox Engine + random instant spell to kind of do the same thing without losing a token to a sac outlet to trigger the Faces.
Hi all. So I've decided to make an R/G aggro deck using Stonebrow, Krosan Hero as the commander with a theme of trample matters, because I've gotten tired of being the control/police guy in the lgs I play at; decided I wanted to punch faces instead of controlling people's boards. I've played around with the deck list I have a lot and don't have a consistent list because there are a lot of ideas I have and if they sound good enough to me I will change cards on a whim. So my questions to you R/G aggro players:
1) For a deck that cares about creatures what is your preferred way to ramp?
2) What is your preferred way of getting card advantages, i.e drawing cards?
3) Besides the good creature/universal removal spells like Beast Within and Chaos Warp what other spells would you play to remove creatures?
4) How many lands should I be running? I run 37 currently because that's been my land count for the longest time when I've made other decks.
I don't think Spectral Procession being taken out when Blood Moon comes in isn't that necessary. It does have the alternate cost of paying 2 for each of the white you can't pay for it. Not optimal yes but it's still possible to cast it.
Hi. Newbie for B/W tokens. I get the gist of the idea of why Tron hurts the deck a lot but I've never personally faced any version of Tron since I'm pretty new to playing Modern and no one in my lgs is playing it iirc. I have been interested in hearing about the red splash for Blood Moon in the sideboard and was wondering if the card Hide//Seek would also be a good consideration for sideboards if using red splash. It answers problematic Enchantments and Artifacts by placing them at the bottom of the deck and can also be used to take away some of the problematic cards from tron decks and gaining life. The Seek part is pretty limited but could hurt combo decks if they only use a few win conditions to win the game with. With all the discard we play plus the Hide//Seek it might make the matchup with Tron not as difficult. Also helps that both side is 2 cmc each.
As for the above discussion of Infernal Tutor, I feel you could play 1-3 Mainboard/Sideboard to just get redundant token generators or even anthem effects. You could also use them to grab redundant sideboard cards that you would want 2 of in your hand in game 2 or 3. I especially like the idea of using Infernal Tutor just to grab more lingering souls.
How do can I beat this deck?
What sideboard cards can be explored?
Is Commandeer worth a look?
Do we just hope they draw the wrong half of their deck?
I know this isn't exactly the most popular T1 deck, but it does get annoying to play against, real fast.
I have faced something similar in the lgs but it uses the mono green devotion win con of Tooth and Nail for Xenagos, God of Revels and Emrakul, the Aeons Torninstead on the inevitable beatdown of Inferno Titan. In my small amount of experience with the deck keep a hand with fetches and counterspells or esper charm and just play the fetches first. They either try to Stone Rain your lands or play the early Blood Moon. Fetch for appropriate basics and hope you can counter the spells with them not having more land destruction in hand. Kill the Voyaging Satyr and other mana dorks as soon as possible, preferably with Fatal Push as to not advance their game plan. I rarely ever won game 1 unless my opponent played bad or drew terribly.
Game 2 sideboard plan includesThoughtseize and Surgical Extraction if you play them in the side. Other than that Cody_X is correct in playing more Negate and Vendilion Cliqueand the other suggestions he made. You could also change your sideboard to play specific cheap counterspells like Turn Aside, Rebuff the Wicked, Hindering Light (which is our modern equivalent to Teferi's Response) or even Swan Song. Quite frankly I hope the deck doesn't catch on. If that's the case I would rather just switch to w/u control instead.
I would say you could use Sword of Light and Shadow or Sword of War and Peace for a more consistent way to gain the life you need. Maybe Umezawa's Jitte since that can gain you more life if you have more charge counters. Though if you want an instant speed way to gain life and curb a graveyard dependent player playing something like Karador, Ghost Chieftain or Meren of Clan Nel Toth you can use Crypt Incursion. As for Skeletal Scrying and Runechanter's Pike, imo play one or the other. You want more card draw play the scrying, you want more damage play the pike. Like JDviant mentioned in the post above mind the new card Ancient Excavation works wonderfully well with the pike if you don't mind discarding a ton of cards.
Fecundity: If you can abuse this effect more than your opponent you could draw a lot of cards. Could abuse dredge this way if you have a discard outlet to freely discard them.
Beseech the Queen: If you can't afford to get the more expensive tutors like Demonic Tutor or Vampiric Tutor, this tutor is good enough to do what you want.
Hornet Queen: Another token generator. Also helps that it's tokens have deathtouch and flying which are good against flyers. If you have Nim Deathmantle + Ashnod's Altar and this card , it can help you make infinite flyers.
Triskelion and/or Walking Ballista: Well you have Mikeaus, the Unhallowed in your deck... If you're not unapposed to using infinite combos either one works. Triskelion is budget friendlier than Walking Ballista at the moment.
Reanimate,Animate Dead, Necromancy: Cheaper reanimation effects that don't have conditions like victimize that you are currently running now. Animate Dead is currently cheaper than the other two card iirc.
Craterhoof Behemoth, Great Oak Guardian: Any buff effect for your creatures in case your primary win cons (Bleeding effects from what I can see in your decklists) are unavailable for some reason. Beastmaster Ascension, Triumph of the Hordes, Garruk Wildspeaker works as well.
I would also like to hear your thoughts on whether you'd like the idea of using more flash creatures to go along with the Mystical Teachings in your list. I know it's a card with at most two uses (More depending if Pull from Eternity is played in the deck and ways to reuse it), but grabbing silver bullet flash creatures like Aven Mindcensor, Venser, Shaper Savant, Hushwing Gryff for when the situation calls for it seems like a cool idea.
It's probably not as good here but I'd like the idea of using Sacred Mesa to make X flying 1/1 ponies as a means of a win con/mana sink.
Like the above poster I think Evacuation would be better mass removal spell to use than Aetherspout. Settle the Wreckage would also work as well and has the added bonus of exiling creatures you don't want to see. Even better with an Aven Mindcensor on the field.
I did play around with Wall of Reverence and most of the time the 1-2 life gain per turn wasn't very helpful. I had played around with/considered other life gain cards like Umezawa's Jitte, Sword of Light and Shadow, and Filigree Familiar. I also considered the Resolute Arcangelthat the other Jenara Player ZenN had mentioned in his thread but I'm unsure about using it since other than the life-resetting, its not that great of a card. I had liked the idea of Oketra's Last Mercy since I can mitigate the lack of untapping with Sword of Feast and Famine.
What I took out:
1x Wall of Reverence
1x Karametra, God of Harvests
1x Bant Charm
1x Hinder
1x Spell Crumple
1x Bribery
1x Hallowed Burial
1x Flagstones of Trokair
1x Kor Haven
1x Forest
1x Wooded Bastion
What I put in:
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Recruiter of the Guard
1x Tragic Arrogance
1x Counterspell
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Force of Will
1x Swan Song
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Island
1x Polluted Delta
1x Reliquary Tower
Funny how after looking at ISBPathfinder's list I didn't notice some of the cards I added were cards I thought he already had in already i.e Polluted Delta, Counterspell and Tragic Arrogance. He had talked about Tragic Arrogance a lot that I assumed it was in his list already. Otherwise most of my choices were based on my meta or trying to make my list faster.
Front:
https://i.imgur.com/2GOFAYW.jpg.
Back: https://i.imgur.com/3YDZ8T9.jpg
I scanned this using my printer at 1200 dpi as I have seem other people mention before on other threads asking about whether their cards are fake or not. I have yet to do any other test yet because I'm not too sure if I even do the light test correctly. I don't own a black light to test it either. The card feels like any other magic card to me. Not glossy either. A friend of mine says it looks good but it can't hurt to ask more people who may know more about it. I am using a perfect fit to hold the card in because I didn't want to damage the card in case I had to return it back because it was fake.
You can also try an Astral Slide version of the deck idea as well using it to blink out your creatures or your opponent's ones as well. I don't like the astral slide version because you kind of have to play with some not so great cycle card and no way to recur them back to your hand but it could fix the draw problem in the colors. Regardless of which version of the deck you'll still have to win by attacking your opponent though.
I don't see a way to break Faces of the Past that it would be an auto include in every version of the locus god deck but here's a nifty combo I thought of just now. Faces of the Past + Sac outlet of choice + Opposition + some amount of insect tokens. Tap down your opponent's lands, sac a token which prompts the Faces of the Past to untap your insects and repeat until you run out of insects to sac or you've tapped down every land your opponent's control. Then on your turn you land a Winter Orb and make your opponents cry. But it's kind of makes it a win more card at that point and you could just use Paradox Engine + random instant spell to kind of do the same thing without losing a token to a sac outlet to trigger the Faces.
1) For a deck that cares about creatures what is your preferred way to ramp?
2) What is your preferred way of getting card advantages, i.e drawing cards?
3) Besides the good creature/universal removal spells like Beast Within and Chaos Warp what other spells would you play to remove creatures?
4) How many lands should I be running? I run 37 currently because that's been my land count for the longest time when I've made other decks.
As for the above discussion of Infernal Tutor, I feel you could play 1-3 Mainboard/Sideboard to just get redundant token generators or even anthem effects. You could also use them to grab redundant sideboard cards that you would want 2 of in your hand in game 2 or 3. I especially like the idea of using Infernal Tutor just to grab more lingering souls.
I have faced something similar in the lgs but it uses the mono green devotion win con of Tooth and Nail for Xenagos, God of Revels and Emrakul, the Aeons Torninstead on the inevitable beatdown of Inferno Titan. In my small amount of experience with the deck keep a hand with fetches and counterspells or esper charm and just play the fetches first. They either try to Stone Rain your lands or play the early Blood Moon. Fetch for appropriate basics and hope you can counter the spells with them not having more land destruction in hand. Kill the Voyaging Satyr and other mana dorks as soon as possible, preferably with Fatal Push as to not advance their game plan. I rarely ever won game 1 unless my opponent played bad or drew terribly.
Game 2 sideboard plan includesThoughtseize and Surgical Extraction if you play them in the side. Other than that Cody_X is correct in playing more Negate and Vendilion Cliqueand the other suggestions he made. You could also change your sideboard to play specific cheap counterspells like Turn Aside, Rebuff the Wicked, Hindering Light (which is our modern equivalent to Teferi's Response) or even Swan Song. Quite frankly I hope the deck doesn't catch on. If that's the case I would rather just switch to w/u control instead.