My aim of the deck is to protect myself and my other creatures. Build up an army and swing If I get locked from attacking, I win with my alt win con of Aetherflux Reservoir. My budget is $15 for a single card.
Always fun to cut up a brand-new list! I'll start with a couple of cuts, since adding new cards is too easy.
- Arcane Lighthouse: This might be odd, but the first thing I thought of when I saw this was that anyone with a Vesuva will copy this and render your commander useless. Plus, do you really need this effect against someone else?
- Temple of the False God: This card has really soured on me as of late. It's so bad if you don't hit five lands, and it's just barely above average if you do hit five lands.
- Aerial Responder: Not good enough by itself, needs a bunch of help to be halfway good.
- Fleecemane Lion: 7 mana for a 4/4 with no evasion? Pass.
- Kitchen Finks: The combo potential is kinda cute, but I don't see a sac outlet to make it go infinite, so you have a small body that gives you a measly 2-4 life.
- Loxodon Smiter: Unless you are guaranteed to play against Nath of the Gilt-Leaf or Neheb, the Worthy, this isn't going to be good.
- Qasali Pridemage: A fine card, but in these colors you can do better. Crush Contraband exiles two targets, Forsake the Worldly exiles and cycles, Acidic Slime can hit those random pesky lands.
- Wall of Blossoms/Wall of Omens: I don't see a bunch of ways to blink/reuse these guys, and your commander doesn't suggest playing a lot of defense, so they don't really feel like a fit.
- Hedron Archive: Another fine card, flexible enough to give you mana early and cash out for two cards later. But, I hate artifact ramp when you can play green non-artifact ramp. Wood Elves, Nature's Lore and Farseek get you duals, Farhaven Elf and Rampant Growth are always solid. Furthermore, none of these options will break the bank. If you must have an artifact, Selesnya Locket is one mana cheaper, which means it falls under the Sun Titan umbrella.
- Always Watching: Not sure this actually fits the theme. It doesn't make counters, and vigilance doesn't really move the needle.
Finally, a couple of random additions that might not get otherwise mentioned:
- Bastion Protector: Get it now before it gets too expensive. It's cheap and effective at protecting Shalai.
- You could probably use a couple creature tutors to make sure you have what you need on time. I know they're pricey, but they're mostly worth the price. If Green Sun's Zenith and Chord of Calling are too pricey, maybe try a Fierce Empath.
- You could also use a few ways to get your creatures back after they die (and they will die, a lot). Karmic Guide is cheap. Eternal Witness is reasonable and basically a requirement for any deck with Forests.
Looks like you have a good start! Hope this helps you out.
Should also say I wanted mostly creature based. I know I could also do planeswalkers but creature based strategies seemed slightly better
- Arcane Lighthouse: See your point here.
- Temple of the False God: Usually doesn't matter to me
- Aerial Responder: with Odric, Lunarch Marshal it gives all my guys flying, vigilance, and lifelink. could be better
- Fleecemane Lion: having something with indestructible is nice. could cut but need something.
- Kitchen Finks: could replace with knight of autumn
- Loxodon Smiter: see finks
- Qasali Pridemage: Probably could be something else mostly in here for the pay and sac for enchantment/artifact
- Wall of Blossoms/Wall of Omens: Early game blocker plus card draw. Could replace them with some hatebears
- Hedron Archive: Yup easily replaced
- Always Watching: Giving everything vigilance so I can attack and block. Also falls under sun titan.
- Bastion Protector: have to see if my lgs has it.
- creature tutors: Yup i was thinking Eladamri's Call or something along those lines. Just don't know what to cut.
- Gotta alot of exile. Ever since I started running Sentinel Totem everybody else in my meta has started to run it.
That's fair. Honing your theme is always a good thing because it helps you narrow down what you want to play. Some follow-up:
- In general, think about what happens when things don't go exactly according to plan. Sometimes you won't have Shalai available when you need it, sometimes you won't assemble your combo pieces, sometimes one of your many opponents will respond to what you're doing, etc.
- What happens when you don't have Aerial Responder and Odric, Lunarch Marshal? What happens if you just have Odric and don't have some other keyword to spread around? I can understand keeping Odric if you have enough other abilities to spread, but the Responder is too underwhelming without help, and you don't run nearly enough tutors to put those fragile pieces together, and even if you do assemble them both you can still get Wrath-ed.
- What happens when you don't draw your Walls until late-game? Aggro rarely a thing in this format, so "early blocker" doesn't really apply. Frankly, any "blocker" feels bad because they can just remove it or get around it.
Hedron Archive: Another fine card, flexible enough to give you mana early and cash out for two cards later. But, I hate artifact ramp when you can play green non-artifact ramp. Wood Elves, Nature's Lore and Farseek get you duals, Farhaven Elf and Rampant Growth are always solid. Furthermore, none of these options will break the bank. If you must have an artifact, Selesnya Locket is one mana cheaper, which means it falls under the Sun Titan umbrella.
Looks like you chose Heliod to replace Odric. If so, great choice! Heliod is really solid.
I second the notion of adding Bear Umbra. Your commander's built-in hexproof will mitigate some of the downside of auras in this format, and as mentioned you can always make use of the extra untaps. If you can afford it, I would look into some other mass-untap effects as well. Sword of Feast and Famine might be a bit too expensive, but it's really strong if you can get ahold of one. Nature's Will is an older card that could allow you to get multiple untaps per turn. Wilderness Reclamation is probably the cheapest one of all, and still pretty effective. All of these also circle back to my prior point about land-based ramp over artifacts or creatures.
Some things to keep an eye on as you play a few games:
- Karn, the Great Creator and The Wanderer feel almost like sideboard cards to me. They could very easily be do-nothings, or they could be game-wreckers depending on who sits down across from you.
- How many times does Tocatli Honor Guard hurt your own ETB triggers?
One other small change: Martyr for the Cause is not very strong because you don't have full control of its proliferate trigger. Evolution Sage gives you more control and the upside of potentially getting more than one trigger.
Yes, I understand the points you have made. I want to put in something that untaps my lands. The torpor orb effects sometimes hurts me but I have tried to take out most of the ETB effects. I think I have like 5 creatures that ETB. I completely shutdown one guy where everytime I play a torpor orb effect he just scoops as soon as I drop it. The Wanderer I have a lot of burn in my meta so that will stay. Karn, the Great Creator probably should be taken out. Just I packed him and wanted to try him out to see if it would work. Need to get a hold of an Evolution Sage.
1x Arcane Lighthouse
1x Bountiful Promenade
1x Canopy Vista
1x Command Tower
10x Forest
1x Forge of Heroes
1x Fortified Village
1x Gavony Township
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Krosan Verge
10x Plains
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Scattered Groves
1x Selesnya Sanctuary
1x Stirring Wildwood
1x Sunpetal Grove
1x Temple Garden
1x Temple of Plenty
1x Temple of the False God
1x Windswept Heath
Creatures (33)
1x Abzan Falconer
1x Aerial Responder
1x Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
1x Angel of Invention
1x Angelic Field Marshal
1x Archangel of Thune
1x Beast Whisperer
1x Dauntless Bodyguard
1x Dauntless Escort
1x Devoted Druid
1x Felidar Sovereign
1x Fleecemane Lion
1x Frontline Medic
1x Genesis Hydra
1x Kalonian Hydra
1x Kitchen Finks
1x Loxodon Smiter
1x Managorger Hydra
1x Odric, Lunarch Marshal
1x Prowling Serpopard
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Selfless Spirit
1x Spike Feeder
1x Sun Titan
1x Thunderfoot Baloth
1x Tireless Tracker
1x Verdurous Gearhulk
1x Vigor
1x Vizier of Remedies
1x Vizier of the Menagerie
1x Wall of Blossoms
1x Wall of Omens
1x Bow of Nylea
1x Spear of Heliod
Artifact (8)
1x Aetherflux Reservoir
1x Behemoth Sledge
1x Elixir of Immortality
1x Hedron Archive
1x Lifecrafter's Bestiary
1x Mind Stone
1x Sol Ring
1x Swiftfoot Boots
Enchantment (8)
1x Always Watching
1x Authority of the Consuls
1x Blind Obedience
1x Hardened Scales
1x Marshal's Anthem
1x Privileged Position
1x Retreat to Kazandu
1x Song of Freyalise
Instant (6)
1x Beast Within
1x Blossoming Defense
1x Dromoka's Command
1x Heroic Intervention
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Unbreakable Formation
Sorcery (4)
1x Cleansing Nova
1x Fumigate
1x Overwhelming Stampede
1x Rishkar's Expertise
- Arcane Lighthouse: This might be odd, but the first thing I thought of when I saw this was that anyone with a Vesuva will copy this and render your commander useless. Plus, do you really need this effect against someone else?
- Temple of the False God: This card has really soured on me as of late. It's so bad if you don't hit five lands, and it's just barely above average if you do hit five lands.
- Aerial Responder: Not good enough by itself, needs a bunch of help to be halfway good.
- Fleecemane Lion: 7 mana for a 4/4 with no evasion? Pass.
- Kitchen Finks: The combo potential is kinda cute, but I don't see a sac outlet to make it go infinite, so you have a small body that gives you a measly 2-4 life.
- Loxodon Smiter: Unless you are guaranteed to play against Nath of the Gilt-Leaf or Neheb, the Worthy, this isn't going to be good.
- Qasali Pridemage: A fine card, but in these colors you can do better. Crush Contraband exiles two targets, Forsake the Worldly exiles and cycles, Acidic Slime can hit those random pesky lands.
- Wall of Blossoms/Wall of Omens: I don't see a bunch of ways to blink/reuse these guys, and your commander doesn't suggest playing a lot of defense, so they don't really feel like a fit.
- Hedron Archive: Another fine card, flexible enough to give you mana early and cash out for two cards later. But, I hate artifact ramp when you can play green non-artifact ramp. Wood Elves, Nature's Lore and Farseek get you duals, Farhaven Elf and Rampant Growth are always solid. Furthermore, none of these options will break the bank. If you must have an artifact, Selesnya Locket is one mana cheaper, which means it falls under the Sun Titan umbrella.
- Always Watching: Not sure this actually fits the theme. It doesn't make counters, and vigilance doesn't really move the needle.
Finally, a couple of random additions that might not get otherwise mentioned:
- Bastion Protector: Get it now before it gets too expensive. It's cheap and effective at protecting Shalai.
- You could probably use a couple creature tutors to make sure you have what you need on time. I know they're pricey, but they're mostly worth the price. If Green Sun's Zenith and Chord of Calling are too pricey, maybe try a Fierce Empath.
- You could also use a few ways to get your creatures back after they die (and they will die, a lot). Karmic Guide is cheap. Eternal Witness is reasonable and basically a requirement for any deck with Forests.
Looks like you have a good start! Hope this helps you out.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
- Arcane Lighthouse: See your point here.
- Temple of the False God: Usually doesn't matter to me
- Aerial Responder: with Odric, Lunarch Marshal it gives all my guys flying, vigilance, and lifelink. could be better
- Fleecemane Lion: having something with indestructible is nice. could cut but need something.
- Kitchen Finks: could replace with knight of autumn
- Loxodon Smiter: see finks
- Qasali Pridemage: Probably could be something else mostly in here for the pay and sac for enchantment/artifact
- Wall of Blossoms/Wall of Omens: Early game blocker plus card draw. Could replace them with some hatebears
- Hedron Archive: Yup easily replaced
- Always Watching: Giving everything vigilance so I can attack and block. Also falls under sun titan.
- Bastion Protector: have to see if my lgs has it.
- creature tutors: Yup i was thinking Eladamri's Call or something along those lines. Just don't know what to cut.
- Gotta alot of exile. Ever since I started running Sentinel Totem everybody else in my meta has started to run it.
- In general, think about what happens when things don't go exactly according to plan. Sometimes you won't have Shalai available when you need it, sometimes you won't assemble your combo pieces, sometimes one of your many opponents will respond to what you're doing, etc.
- What happens when you don't have Aerial Responder and Odric, Lunarch Marshal? What happens if you just have Odric and don't have some other keyword to spread around? I can understand keeping Odric if you have enough other abilities to spread, but the Responder is too underwhelming without help, and you don't run nearly enough tutors to put those fragile pieces together, and even if you do assemble them both you can still get Wrath-ed.
- What happens when you don't draw your Walls until late-game? Aggro rarely a thing in this format, so "early blocker" doesn't really apply. Frankly, any "blocker" feels bad because they can just remove it or get around it.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
Out: Dauntless Bodyguard, Wall of Omens, Wall of Blossoms, Fleecemane Lion, Aerial Responder, Kitchen Finks, Loxodon Smiter
In: Sakura-Tribe Elder, Fauna Shaman, Knight of the White Orchid, Imposing Sovereign, Remorseful Cleric, Bastion Protector, Knight of Autumn
EDIT 1 :Also thought about replacing Odric, Lunarch Marshal with one of the following.
High Sentinels of Arashin, Alms Collector, Heliod, God of the Sun, Abzan Battle Priest, Selfless Squire
I want to replace Overwhelming Stampede with Finale of Devastation. I also want to replace Mind Stone with Lightning Greaves or Mask of Avacyn, whichever I can get my hands on.
1x Bountiful Promenade
1x Canopy Vista
1x Command Tower
1x Fortified Village
1x Gavony Township
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Karn's Bastion
1x Krosan Verge
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Scattered Groves
1x Selesnya Sanctuary
1x Stirring Wildwood
1x Sunpetal Grove
1x Temple Garden
1x Temple of Plenty
1x Temple of the False God
1x Windswept Heath
10x Forest
10x Plains
Creature (36)
1x Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
1x Devoted Druid
1x Fauna Shaman
1x Genesis Hydra
1x Imposing Sovereign
1x Knight of the White Orchid
1x Martyr for the Cause
1x Paradise Druid
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Selfless Spirit
1x Tocatli Honor Guard
1x Tomik, Distinguished Advokist
1x Vizier of Remedies
1x Dauntless Escort
1x Frontline Medic
1x Hushwing Gryff
1x Knight of Autumn
1x Managorger Hydra
1x Prowling Serpopard
1x Spike Feeder
1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1x Tireless Tracker
1x Angelic Field Marshal
1x Beast Whisperer
1x Heliod, God of the Sun
1x Vizier of the Menagerie
1x Angel of Invention
1x Archangel of Thune
1x Kalonian Hydra
1x Verdurous Gearhulk
1x Felidar Sovereign
1x Sun Titan
1x Thunderfoot Baloth
1x Vigor
1x Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter
1x Vivien, Champion of the Wilds
1x Ajani, the Greathearted
1x Karn, the Great Creator
1x The Wanderer
Legendary Enchantment Artifact(1)
1x Bow of Nylea
Enchantment (4)
1x Authority of the Consuls
1x Hardened Scales
1x Blind Obedience
1x Always Watching
Artifact (6)
1x Elixir of Immortality
1x Sol Ring
1x Mind Stone
1x Swiftfoot Boots
1x Behemoth Sledge
1x Lifecrafter's Bestiary
Instant (6)
1x Blossoming Defense
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Eladamri's Call
1x Heroic Intervention
1x Beast Within
1x Unbreakable Formation
Sorcery (4)
1x Cleansing Nova
1x Fumigate
1x Overwhelming Stampede
1x Rishkar's Expertise
Also, maybe Bear Umbra for your commander? And you can always make use of the extra land untap, even just to pump your army with Shalai.
Currently Playing:
Multiplayer EDH Lists (click italics for a link to the thread!)
[Primer] Lord of Tresserhorn - Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do[Primer] Roon of the Hidden Realm - Rhino Blink
5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits)
Also Playing (most decklists can be found on my profile)
MarathGeistKamahlGrenzoBolasThassaGitrog
PiratesZurVial Smasher&ThrasiosYennettJhoira(cEDH)Strix(Pauper)
Legacy: Maverick
Modern:
Melira PodRIP 1/19/15GWHatebearsAll of this applies to Mind Stone and Paradise Druid as well.
Looks like you chose Heliod to replace Odric. If so, great choice! Heliod is really solid.
I second the notion of adding Bear Umbra. Your commander's built-in hexproof will mitigate some of the downside of auras in this format, and as mentioned you can always make use of the extra untaps. If you can afford it, I would look into some other mass-untap effects as well. Sword of Feast and Famine might be a bit too expensive, but it's really strong if you can get ahold of one. Nature's Will is an older card that could allow you to get multiple untaps per turn. Wilderness Reclamation is probably the cheapest one of all, and still pretty effective. All of these also circle back to my prior point about land-based ramp over artifacts or creatures.
Some things to keep an eye on as you play a few games:
- Karn, the Great Creator and The Wanderer feel almost like sideboard cards to me. They could very easily be do-nothings, or they could be game-wreckers depending on who sits down across from you.
- How many times does Tocatli Honor Guard hurt your own ETB triggers?
One other small change: Martyr for the Cause is not very strong because you don't have full control of its proliferate trigger. Evolution Sage gives you more control and the upside of potentially getting more than one trigger.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
Runic Armasaur offers a steady draw support.