I'm a relatively new player to Magic so I apologize if I'm overlooking a crucial fundamental for deck building. For the past week I've been working on this deck but every time I play it it's been inconsistent: sometimes it works and sometimes it stalls out hard. I've tried to stick to general synergizing but it still feels like there's too many disjointed cards that need specific circumstances to be useful.
One flaw I see is my lack of 3 drop cards for the mana curve, but I haven't found too many good ones to fit the saproling token set up. I also feel I may need some card draw, something like Shamanic Revelation or Skullclamp but I'm not sure.
The Mother of Runes seems fun to use, but I may try swapping it out for Soul Warden to gain more life off the tokens and provide more time to build up.
I've added the current deck below. If you see any issues with it or have suggestions for cards to include, I appreciate any critique! It's been driving me crazy.
I'm unsure of your meta or your budget constraints. I play a GB Saproling variant for Standard. So I don't have access to good white cards due to the constraints.
That said....
Metallic Mimic should be cut. I find I tend to want to hold my cards until Mimic hits the table causing me to slow my game down and it's largely useless unless I get two or more in play at which point it's just a win-more.
I'm not sure how I feel about Eldrazi Monument. The +1/+1 is nice but I feel Oran-Reif, The Vastwood represents a better bang for the buck in a casual environment. I would play test and see which one I like more.
Intangible Virtue is cool but I personally think you can cut it down to 1 or 2 cards and use the extra slots for more utility cards. Not sure what your meta has to deal with to replace it with.
Champion of Lambholt actually works for you? Same for Mother of Runes. I can see their uses but they wouldn't work well in my metas I think. But if they work well in yours, great. But if ever draw these cards and wishing was something else more than you need them, cut them. The reason is these cards (like Metallic Mimic) are cards that might demand attention from your opponent and unlikely will live very long.
I'm trying to decide if Songs of Freyalise should be cut down to two in my own deck, I think you should do the same. When I have one early or mid-game, it makes for some awesome ramp. And the 3rd saga is a great punch to the face. But I find if I have two or three at once, I can't quite get the timing right to maximize both abilities. The problem is the first two sagas aren't stackable so staggering them gets me ZERO benefit and I'm usually not interested in tapping my creatures for mana when I need to attack the opponent anyways. Song just seems to be a card that I can go without in many games.
Go find 2-4 copies of Disenchant and/or Naturalize or some other similar card and keep them handy. My meta has a knight deck that uses History of Benalia and it's a very real threat that has made me lose too many games. You can also consider cards like Forsake the Wordly, Clear and Dissenter's Deliverance that have cycling to allow you to dig into your deck for answers. On that topic, cards with Scry also help you dig down in your deck for answers. And yes, I think Skullclamp would be great card draw as well. Unbridled Growth lets me go light on dual colored lands early and gets me card draw later.
Since you stall, trade out your dual lands for those with scry and/or cycling to allow you to dig through your deck faster.
I'm more interested in a generalized deck instead of a specific one to fit the current meta. I'm not too worried about being the most efficient possible, as the people I play with aren't very good. I don't have much of a budget, but I suppose I'm trying to avoid cards that are more expensive than 20 dollars if possible.
I completely agree that Metallic Mimic was weighing me down. I didn't realize it until you mentioned it, but several of my cards were like this. I would wait to use other creatures until I had Metallic Mimic or Parallel Lives out. Even with Song of Freyalise I would hold off for a while until I had some board presence.
I tried Oran-Rief, The Vastwood earlier but I ended up cutting it because mana was tight and it coming in tapped hurt quite a bit. I added Skullclamp though and it has helped a ton already, so I may be able to bring back Oran-Reif. Eldrazi Monument has been nice because it allows me to finish the opponent either that turn or next, but it also requires I have enough creatures in the moment. Drawing a second one is mostly a dead card too, so I may drop it down to 1 copy.
I agree that I probably had too many Intangible Virtues. I put it at 3 now, but I may take it down to 2. It has been useful to have but I may not need to draw it as often. At the time I was thinking it could act as a pseudo lord for the saprolings.
I also dropped Song of Freyalise down to 2. I've had two in my hands often, and even when it's just one I've sometimes not been able to use it well. I may end up just taking it out, though I think it's a super cool card.
I didn't mention artifact/enchantment removal before but I do have them ready in my sideboard. What do you think of Sundering Vitae instead of the classic Naturalize?
I haven't had too much issue with my mana base, usually the early dual lands and mid dual lands are enough to be consistent. If I were to add a mana card, would you recommend Unbridled Growth over Utopia Sprawl?
With regards to mass destruction, I always put Heroic Intervention into my sideboards just in case!
There's some weird ones in here that I'm testing, like Nissa and Obelisk of Urd. I may drop them depending on how they do. What do you think about Akroma's Memorial replacing Eldrazi Monument, or Sprout Swarm replacing something (not sure what)?
I'm more interested in a generalized deck instead of a specific one to fit the current meta. I'm not too worried about being the most efficient possible, as the people I play with aren't very good. I don't have much of a budget, but I suppose I'm trying to avoid cards that are more expensive than 20 dollars if possible.
That's fine and perfectly reasonable. I'll try to talk about cheaper cards but forgive me if I forget.
I completely agree that Metallic Mimic was weighing me down. I didn't realize it until you mentioned it, but several of my cards were like this. I would wait to use other creatures until I had Metallic Mimic or Parallel Lives out. Even with Song of Freyalise I would hold off for a while until I had some board presence.
Oh yeah, I meant to mention Parallel Lives in that context. I think the card is somewhat more applicable here but does exhibit the same problems as Mimic.
I tried Oran-Rief, The Vastwood earlier but I ended up cutting it because mana was tight and it coming in tapped hurt quite a bit. I added Skullclamp though and it has helped a ton already, so I may be able to bring back Oran-Reif. Eldrazi Monument has been nice because it allows me to finish the opponent either that turn or next, but it also requires I have enough creatures in the moment. Drawing a second one is mostly a dead card too, so I may drop it down to 1 copy.
In all honesty, I don't generally care for this type of utility land. I would rather pick out cards that let me beef up one creature for combat tricks like Giant Growth.
I also dropped Song of Freyalise down to 2. I've had two in my hands often, and even when it's just one I've sometimes not been able to use it well. I may end up just taking it out, though I think it's a super cool card.
It is a cool card but I suspect Saproling might not be the right deck for it. It's an OK card but the inability to stack the first two Sagas really hurt it.
I didn't mention artifact/enchantment removal before but I do have them ready in my sideboard. What do you think of Sundering Vitae instead of the classic Naturalize?
I would go ahead and try it and see how it plays out. I can't use it in my deck because it's not allowed.
I haven't had too much issue with my mana base, usually the early dual lands and mid dual lands are enough to be consistent. If I were to add a mana card, would you recommend Unbridled Growth over Utopia Sprawl?
These are two different cards. Unbridled Growth is a color fixing card that allows you to guarantee the color mana I need early and a card draw late. Sprawl gives you the color fixing but does it as ramp and gives you no draw later. There have been many many games where I pay 1 life to get just to put Growth into play and end up having that as my only source of for a few turns. But there have been times I really needed one more mana for a kicker cost and didn't have it.
Try both (2 and 2?) and see how often you wish you drew the other card instead....
With regards to mass destruction, I always put Heroic Intervention into my sideboards just in case!
Here is my current deck:
I'll look it over when I have more time.
There's some weird ones in here that I'm testing, like Nissa and Obelisk of Urd. I may drop them depending on how they do. What do you think about Akroma's Memorial replacing Eldrazi Monument, or Sprout Swarm replacing something (not sure what)?
I would definitely keep at least one Freyalise to see how it plays with Akroma then add ramp like Sol Ring (my favorite Type II card for years because it feeds two Icy Manipulators to maintain locks), Llanowar Elves, Birds of Paradise and any other Mana Dork and/or Mana Rock you can get your hands on to get that out ASAP. It's going to be an easy target once your friends figure out how to Disenchant it. So all that ramp can feed Sprout Swarm. If I could play Sprout Swarm in my deck, I would give it serious consideration.
I have a lot to think about and try out with this. It's funny you mentioned Icy Manipulator, because I was considering putting something similar called Glare of Subdual into the deck. It doesn't quite cover the reach of types that Icy does, but it seems to work well since I have many saprolings to tap while I'm building them up.
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I'm a relatively new player to Magic so I apologize if I'm overlooking a crucial fundamental for deck building. For the past week I've been working on this deck but every time I play it it's been inconsistent: sometimes it works and sometimes it stalls out hard. I've tried to stick to general synergizing but it still feels like there's too many disjointed cards that need specific circumstances to be useful.
One flaw I see is my lack of 3 drop cards for the mana curve, but I haven't found too many good ones to fit the saproling token set up. I also feel I may need some card draw, something like Shamanic Revelation or Skullclamp but I'm not sure.
I'm not sure I have enough power at the end of the curve, and have been eyeing Triumph of the Hordes, Mycoloth, Shalai, Voice of Plenty, and Elspeth Tirel. I don't want to make the deck too top heavy though.
I've been considering Growing Rites of Itlimoc or Utopia Sprawl for a bit more mana but that may be overkill on that department, since I'm already running Song of Freyalise.
The Mother of Runes seems fun to use, but I may try swapping it out for Soul Warden to gain more life off the tokens and provide more time to build up.
I've added the current deck below. If you see any issues with it or have suggestions for cards to include, I appreciate any critique! It's been driving me crazy.
3 Champion of Lambholt
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Mother of Runes
4 Sporecrown Thallid
3 Tendershoot Dryad
2 Eldrazi Monument
4 Intangible Virtue
3 Parallel Lives
3 Song of Freyalise
4 Path to Exile
4 Spore Swarm
4 Saproling Migration
9 Forest
5 Plains
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove
That said....
Metallic Mimic should be cut. I find I tend to want to hold my cards until Mimic hits the table causing me to slow my game down and it's largely useless unless I get two or more in play at which point it's just a win-more.
I'm not sure how I feel about Eldrazi Monument. The +1/+1 is nice but I feel Oran-Reif, The Vastwood represents a better bang for the buck in a casual environment. I would play test and see which one I like more.
Intangible Virtue is cool but I personally think you can cut it down to 1 or 2 cards and use the extra slots for more utility cards. Not sure what your meta has to deal with to replace it with.
Champion of Lambholt actually works for you? Same for Mother of Runes. I can see their uses but they wouldn't work well in my metas I think. But if they work well in yours, great. But if ever draw these cards and wishing was something else more than you need them, cut them. The reason is these cards (like Metallic Mimic) are cards that might demand attention from your opponent and unlikely will live very long.
I'm trying to decide if Songs of Freyalise should be cut down to two in my own deck, I think you should do the same. When I have one early or mid-game, it makes for some awesome ramp. And the 3rd saga is a great punch to the face. But I find if I have two or three at once, I can't quite get the timing right to maximize both abilities. The problem is the first two sagas aren't stackable so staggering them gets me ZERO benefit and I'm usually not interested in tapping my creatures for mana when I need to attack the opponent anyways. Song just seems to be a card that I can go without in many games.
Go find 2-4 copies of Disenchant and/or Naturalize or some other similar card and keep them handy. My meta has a knight deck that uses History of Benalia and it's a very real threat that has made me lose too many games. You can also consider cards like Forsake the Wordly, Clear and Dissenter's Deliverance that have cycling to allow you to dig into your deck for answers. On that topic, cards with Scry also help you dig down in your deck for answers. And yes, I think Skullclamp would be great card draw as well. Unbridled Growth lets me go light on dual colored lands early and gets me card draw later.
Since you stall, trade out your dual lands for those with scry and/or cycling to allow you to dig through your deck faster.
On a different note, keep a watch for mass destruction ranging from Goblin Chainwhirler to Wrath of God. Heroic Intervention should help if those make an appearance.
I'm more interested in a generalized deck instead of a specific one to fit the current meta. I'm not too worried about being the most efficient possible, as the people I play with aren't very good. I don't have much of a budget, but I suppose I'm trying to avoid cards that are more expensive than 20 dollars if possible.
I completely agree that Metallic Mimic was weighing me down. I didn't realize it until you mentioned it, but several of my cards were like this. I would wait to use other creatures until I had Metallic Mimic or Parallel Lives out. Even with Song of Freyalise I would hold off for a while until I had some board presence.
I tried Oran-Rief, The Vastwood earlier but I ended up cutting it because mana was tight and it coming in tapped hurt quite a bit. I added Skullclamp though and it has helped a ton already, so I may be able to bring back Oran-Reif. Eldrazi Monument has been nice because it allows me to finish the opponent either that turn or next, but it also requires I have enough creatures in the moment. Drawing a second one is mostly a dead card too, so I may drop it down to 1 copy.
I agree that I probably had too many Intangible Virtues. I put it at 3 now, but I may take it down to 2. It has been useful to have but I may not need to draw it as often. At the time I was thinking it could act as a pseudo lord for the saprolings.
Champion of Lambholt and Mother of Runes did work pretty well, but I ended up taking them out until I can fix the core problems of my deck. I may put Mother of Runes or Soul Warden back in instead of Thallid, I'm not sure how much use Thallid will be overall.
I also dropped Song of Freyalise down to 2. I've had two in my hands often, and even when it's just one I've sometimes not been able to use it well. I may end up just taking it out, though I think it's a super cool card.
I didn't mention artifact/enchantment removal before but I do have them ready in my sideboard. What do you think of Sundering Vitae instead of the classic Naturalize?
I haven't had too much issue with my mana base, usually the early dual lands and mid dual lands are enough to be consistent. If I were to add a mana card, would you recommend Unbridled Growth over Utopia Sprawl?
With regards to mass destruction, I always put Heroic Intervention into my sideboards just in case!
Here is my current deck:
3 Sigil Captain
4 Sporecrown Thallid
2 Tendershoot Dryad
4 Thallid
4 Yavimaya Sapherd
2 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
Spells:
2 Eldrazi Monument
1 Obelisk of Urd
3 Skullclamp
3 Intangible Virtue
2 Song of Freyalise
4 Spore Swarm
4 Saproling Migration
11 Forest
3 Plains
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove
There's some weird ones in here that I'm testing, like Nissa and Obelisk of Urd. I may drop them depending on how they do. What do you think about Akroma's Memorial replacing Eldrazi Monument, or Sprout Swarm replacing something (not sure what)?
That's fine and perfectly reasonable. I'll try to talk about cheaper cards but forgive me if I forget.
Oh yeah, I meant to mention Parallel Lives in that context. I think the card is somewhat more applicable here but does exhibit the same problems as Mimic.
In all honesty, I don't generally care for this type of utility land. I would rather pick out cards that let me beef up one creature for combat tricks like Giant Growth.
It is a cool card but I suspect Saproling might not be the right deck for it. It's an OK card but the inability to stack the first two Sagas really hurt it.
I would go ahead and try it and see how it plays out. I can't use it in my deck because it's not allowed.
These are two different cards. Unbridled Growth is a color fixing card that allows you to guarantee the color mana I need early and a card draw late. Sprawl gives you the color fixing but does it as ramp and gives you no draw later. There have been many many games where I pay 1 life to get just to put Growth into play and end up having that as my only source of for a few turns. But there have been times I really needed one more mana for a kicker cost and didn't have it.
Try both (2 and 2?) and see how often you wish you drew the other card instead....
I'll look it over when I have more time.
I would definitely keep at least one Freyalise to see how it plays with Akroma then add ramp like Sol Ring (my favorite Type II card for years because it feeds two Icy Manipulators to maintain locks), Llanowar Elves, Birds of Paradise and any other Mana Dork and/or Mana Rock you can get your hands on to get that out ASAP. It's going to be an easy target once your friends figure out how to Disenchant it. So all that ramp can feed Sprout Swarm. If I could play Sprout Swarm in my deck, I would give it serious consideration.
I have a lot to think about and try out with this. It's funny you mentioned Icy Manipulator, because I was considering putting something similar called Glare of Subdual into the deck. It doesn't quite cover the reach of types that Icy does, but it seems to work well since I have many saprolings to tap while I'm building them up.