I don't believe the 'adventure' is a knight spell so I guess it doesn't work with haakon and also I don't think you can use black from the new knight land 'tournament grounds', to cast the adventure half, for example.
I don't believe the 'adventure' is a knight spell so I guess it doesn't work with haakon and also I don't think you can use black from the new knight land 'tournament grounds', to cast the adventure half, for example.
has anybody been working on a mardu mana base I belive it is the best way to go.
The mana-base is the least of my concerns. It will depend on the focus of the deck, mostly B? mostly W? mostly R? all or nearly all creatures? and other considerations.
It's hard to imagine an aggro Knight deck won't run some number of WW creatures. The new, littleR guy, Fervent Champion seems to be the best of the new bunch. He will enable some shenanigans and Sunforger presents some mind-boggling opportunities. But these opportunities are Instant spells. So that throws out the nearly-all creature approach.
WR with possibly a small B splash might be the way to go. Sunforger allows the deck to play about a million different Instants for RW. How to cut it down to what's best will be a challenge. The cards included should be cast-able without relying on a one-drop and an artifact, so it will probably be mostly low-CMC R and W instants. That cuts it down to probably only a quarter of a million spells to consider.
Even if it is blisteringly fast, an aggro deck will still sometimes lose to combo. I haven't seen anything yet that will improve Tribal Knights match-up with combo decks. So that could mean a discard, disruption approach. That means primarily B, maybe Haakon will be able to assemble a real team. possibly including Corpse Knight and maybe Foulmire Knight. Whether R will be a worthwhile splash is debatable. The WW Knights seem less likely to play a role here but it's not out of the question.
The mana-base won't be hard to work out once the creatures and spells are worked out.
the issue I am having is that none of the tribal lands will let you cast the adventure part of knight spells. now even tho so far all of the good ones are in black the spoilers are not done yet. I think if we are not using the adventure side of the new knight spells or unable to cast them reliably it will hurt our chances.... the big ones with adventure I am seeing are foulmaire knight, order of midnight and the hero's down fall knight.
Three-color mana-bases aren't too tough. The Tribal lands aren't really needed although a Cavern of Souls or three would certainly be useful. I like the destroy artifact guy, but it's Sorcery, but still, useful.
The new Knights looked like enough fun to actually try Standard again; I haven't played since Shadows Over Innistrad/Eldritch Moon. But they go and print this: Witches Vengeance.
It probably won't see much play in Modern but then, Knight Tribal probably isn't going to be a thing anyway. It does convince me to not bother with Standard.
Maindeck Haakon might be enough to stall against any black deck/control deck who would play Witch's Vengeance. I feel people often think of Knights as just another Merfolk/Humans deck. Right now IMHO Knights can be more, we have removal knight, Reanimator Knight, Gravedigger Flying Knight, Indestructible Lord Knight, 2 mana Lord Knight, Planeswalker Knight-token-Bitterblossom, Equipment synergic Knights... we have so much room for brewing. I'll surely post a list or 2 here soon.
I am going r/w for my first go around. then on to b/w then mardu. so I can get a feel for which cards are over performing and worth making it in to the mardu version.
The best of the new cards is probably Fervent Champion, but he needs equipment to shine. Sunforger is probably too expensive to count on for aggro, but it looks like a good card for the deck in some number. Picking one's spells is Magic Christmas! If there's something in the new set that will transform Modern Knights, it's probably Fervent and Sunforger. Wrath of God or Supreme Verdict? Rootborn Defenses or Boros Charm for RW! Ad Nauseum? Angel's Grace for RW! Angel's Grace would probably fix a few other things but the engine is not getting online until turn-four and that's too slow to stop Grishoalbrand and perhaps some other combo decks.
The best of the new B cards seem to be Foulmire Knight and Murderous Rider though I'm not sure either is good enough to want to run B over R or G. Unless one tries a completely different approach, perhaps a value-based approach with Haakon, Stromgald Scourge. Smallpox could be a big help against Twiddle Storm if one can hit it right. One could conceivable run a Mardu Haakon deck and that would allow WB, WR as well as R and W spells to fire off of Sunforger.
You know what would be a hell of a card to cast for RW? Utter End! The possibilities are endless, of course only so many spells can fit into a creature deck and it doesn't take many at all to rule out Aether Vial.
So maybe Mardu is the answer or maybe it will turn out to be Naya. Nothing in Naya colors really seems to help against fast combo; Mardu could include hand destruction, but to be effective, it would have to be probably six cards. BW could probably handle that but I doubt Mardu can and also include some number of equipments and spells to fire off of Sunforger. Maybe RW alone could get it done, relying on spells to handle enchantments and perhaps artifacts too. There is of course the new little R guy Embereth Shieldbreaker.
A resource-denial approach with just BW is also worth thinking about. Hand Destruction plus Smallpox and some graveyard recursion could get there perhaps aided by something like Corpse Knight. Haakon, a one-drop Knight and Blasting Station would at least be fun. Altar of Dementia could also do some work. BW would obviously drop the Fervent/Sunforger scheme.
Up to this point I've taken for granted that W is part of the mix. Even though I haven't talked about the W Knights, I still think the assumption will probably be borne out.
I don't have the strength left to speculate about four-color Knights right now, even though the idea of having UW spells in the Sunforger quiver is appealing. Jeskai Knights? There could be a few UW cards without any U Knights in the mix, I suppose.
I agree with you we have never had this many new knight cards at one time. the fact that they are also spells is exactly what knights needed. I have always been super disappointed with the quality of the 2 drop knight spot a 2/2 first strike just isnt enough to be impactful. I have a feeling that the deck is going to end up being w/b/r with the red splash being just enough for the captain. the other thing to keep in mind if you are going to play r/w is that they are mostly human knights which allows you to urn thalia's lieutenant to some great value, worthy knight makes human tokens so it's not impossible to be able to over run some one very quickly while holding somthing like boros charm or mana Tithe up to save your board
I like The Haakon smallpox aproach actually. Smallpox and Vial are great buddies too. If we only had a Hand Disruption Knight
A disruptive loop with Smitten Swordmaster might be a On-tribe way to finish the game.
I like The Haakon smallpox aproach actually. Smallpox and Vial are great buddies too. If we only had a Hand Disruption Knight
A disruptive loop with Smitten Swordmaster might be a On-tribe way to finish the game.
The Adventure approach was brilliant in concept and nearly wasted in execution. They could have done something to make Knights competitive in Modern but they evidently didn't give that much thought. Not surprising given they didn't do anything for Knights in Modern Horizons either.
Have been following this thread since almost the beginning, but didn't post until now. Now that knights tribal will get some support I want to share the decklists I'm currently playing:
Having the access to Knight of the Reliquary and Retreat to Coralhelm combo is the main reason to go bant colors, but makes the deck much more competitive. We have either the combo plan or the beatdown plan, but it usually gets opponent offward on G1. Retreat often gets sided out in games 2 y 3 if the opponent has too much disruption.
Since best knights are usually cmc 3, having mana dorks let us drop them in turn 2, something I feel is necessary in a format like modern.
Giver of Runes and Unsettled Mariner give the essential protection to our key knights to stay on the battlefield. I found out that Unsettled Mariner is the best 2CMC knight. It slows a lot midrange decks with lots of cheap removal, which are usually a problem for tribal knights, since we can´t develop a board state, and in multiples are great since the ability stacks. Also scapeshift decks can't go off if one of them is on the battlefield.
I dont use artifact or burn hate sideboard because of the 3 Knight of Autumn mainboard. Urza decks can also get hated out with Pithing Needle.
Please tell me what do you think about it and which changes would you make to MB or SB. I find it pretty competitive and can stand a chance agaisnt the tier decks. When I get some more time I will post a Puresteel Paladin version I also run.
With the unbanning of stoneforge mystic, we can run an equipment toolbox, finding the right sword/equipment in every moment. Sigarda's Aid allows us to play equipment at instant speed, for protection with the right colour sword or for unexpected kills with colossus hammer. Since we are not all in with the combo, and colossus hammer is useless without Sigarda's Aid or Puresteel Paladin, only two copies are in the deck (maybe should be even one). Still, it is fetchable with Stoneforge Mystic if needed.
The deck has a lot of protection with Giver of Runes, Spellskite and the instant speed swords. The main goal is to protect and equip a Mirran Crusader for the right protections and strike for the win.
I see this deck going BW or RW instead of monoW with the new additions from Throne of Eldraine, but still have to look into this. Those colours would give the deck a bit more of interaction, something it currently lacks. Even could go WU for counters and a playset of Unsettled Mariner for more protection. What do you think?
this is my first thought on a list for mardu... any thoughts
Well, I did a little editing, trying to get a better idea what was going on, but I'm to tired to really even mentally gold-fish with it. If it can't win reliably on turn four, it's probably not worth taking to FNM.
It's hard to imagine how it will do against other aggro decks. I have the feeling Affinity would smoke it like a cheap cigar, but Affinity isn't popular these days. Also Affinity is not hard to hate out with side-board cards and the Shield Breakers are a start there.
Humans would probably get bigger faster and they have some disruption. Merfolk have cheaper Lords and Island Walk.
There are a lot of creatures for any deck to deal with but many decks put out big creatures without worrying about Lords. I don't think these guys would get big enough fast enough to pressure BGx decks.
This thing has nothing but possibly speed to deal with Ad Nauseam, Neoform, Control or any number of other decks. If Neoform hits the Nuts you'll just lose, same with Ad Nauseam. You might have enough horseower to compete with UW Control but I don't know.
It isn't really fair to make a judgement without anything more than my pitiful little bit of intuition, but I don't see Knights competing as an Aggro deck and I'm not really moved from that position by this list. My experience with Mono-W Vial Knights was I could beat Burn, Zombies and Rakdos all day long but I struggled against anything else. This deck won't even have the same game against those decks without the pro-R/B and the life-gain.
I can understand where ur coming from my thoughts on it is that it dose a little of every thing. I can go wide or against the right matchups I can side my pro creatures and win off the backs of them. ur right all the other tribal decks have things they are better at then us how ever the sideboard (which I have yet to work on) can and will shore up all of our bad matches. if another deck wants to do a creature race with me I will win on the back of Exemplar or the "burn" from corpses knight and curry favor.
this is my first thought on a list for mardu... any thoughts
This deck will struggle to cast Swift End with the mana-base it currently has. There are eight B sources for non-creature spells. This needs to be addressed. Cutting Murderous Rider isn't what I would want to do, so a revision of the mana-base or the creatures themselves is called for.
You are going to need about eighteenteen genuine B sources to drop Swift End on-curve. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth would go a long way towards fixing this, but I think you're going to have to build a mana-base that supports BB on turn-three first, and then see what you can do for the rest. You may have to reconsider some of the cards you are playing.
The first step is to run mainly Bx duals; I think this will be essential. Fetches are also going to be mandatory.
I think it's best to reduce either W or R or both to a splash to accomplish this. Without any equipment, Fervent Champion is not worth the pressure on the mana-base, so cutting him would go a long way towards easing the mana demands. Having BB and WW on turn-three will be easier if R isn't needed at all until turn-two.
Assuming we ditch Fervent Champion for a B or W one-drop, the following would provide the number of sources needed to cast everything in the main-deck on curve, including Swift End. This means 18+ B sources usable for spells to get 1BB on turn-three, 18+ W sources to get 1WW on turn-three, and 14+ R sources to get R on turn one. We have more than enough B and W sources to make that BR or WR on turn-two.
There's a little flexibility, but I wouldn't reduce the number of basics, and I wouldn't run more than two Horizon Lands, in fact, a three-one split of Concealed Courtyard-Silent Clearing would be fine.
This mana-base should also give you good support for side-board spells.
Here's a link to the resource I used for the number of sources.
Vial decks don't usually run this many lands but Vial decks don't usually run three colors. And Vials can't put anything in play on-curve and they obviously don't cast spells - not even Adventures.
EDIT: Changes have been made since original post, primarily to support R, 1R, and 1WW spells. 1BB is also supported. I finally got it to support R on curve. Man, that was a job of work!
I never thought I'd see the day where Knight Tribal was a supported theme within a set. Incredible.
I think the best plan is just to pick one of the core flavours of knight archetype and go from there. It's clear that there are now ample cards to support an aggro plan, an equipment/value plan, and the Haakon, Stromgald Scourge plan. Trying to mix all of these things together is probably a mistake. This is why I think Mardu is the wrong direction to go. It seems to me that it gets pulled in too many directions at once.
I've tried out of a few of these over the past week and have really been liking the WR aggro build. This is what I've been running:
To no one's surprise, Worthy Knight and the humans-matter cards work exceptionally well together. The fact that it triggers on casting a knight rather than on ETB means that you get the token even if they kill Worthy Knight in response. It was not uncommon to grow Champion of the Parish 4 power per turn. Turn 4 kills were common. There were also two occasions where I was trapped behind an Ensnaring Bridge and won by flinging a 12 power Champion into the face of the opponent on their end step.
I was less impressed with Fervent Champion. I think this creature best belongs in some sort of equipment shell rather than as a staple in an aggro deck. Without playing a critical mass of equipment it just did not feel powerful.
I also really enjoyed messing around with Haakon, Stromgald Scourge and Corpse Knight. It was slower and grindier compared to the blistering speed of the first build, but it felt good to totally ignore board-wipes.
The combo between Dauntless Bodyguard, Midnight Reaper, and Haakon, Stromgald Scourge was very good. Since the bodyguard can sacrifice itself whenever, this allows you to draw a card and lose a life for the low low price of W. Even if the board stalled out, this, coupled with Corpse Knight, allowed me to close out a number of games.
Ultimately, I don't think anyone is going to pick up Knight Tribal with the expectation that it's the best thing going on in Modern. You might as well play humans if that's how you feel. Personally, there are few better feelings than scraping out a win against a Tier 1 or 2 deck on the back of this under-powered albeit flavourful tribe.
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Modern: WR Knights || W Knights 2 || WR Feather || WBGTeneeb the Harvester Re-animator || WR Enchantments || B Vampires || G Elves
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Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Fervent Championis nice with swords <3
Here is the combo explained:
-Have RWW up, Sunforger and Fervent Champion on board.
-Equip Sunforger for free on Fervent Champion, unequip and tutor for [[desperate ritual]] (RRRW in pool).
-Repeat the Sunforger ability, fetching Manamorphose (RRWW in pool).
-Repeat for all the manamorphoses (RRWW still in pool, 5 cards drawn this turn).
-With Sunforger cast [[Fists of Flames]]. (Creature is now 11 power because 1+4+6. RW in pool).
-Repeat, casting [[Temur Battle Rage]] or another fists.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
If a deck can be cobbled together that is nearly all creatures, some of the features of the Humans decks can be used; Cavern of Souls, Ancient Ziggurat, Unclaimed Territory. If it's mostly Mardu Knights and Equipment then Tournament Grounds can be used.
It's hard to imagine an aggro Knight deck won't run some number of WW creatures. The new, littleR guy, Fervent Champion seems to be the best of the new bunch. He will enable some shenanigans and Sunforger presents some mind-boggling opportunities. But these opportunities are Instant spells. So that throws out the nearly-all creature approach.
WR with possibly a small B splash might be the way to go. Sunforger allows the deck to play about a million different Instants for RW. How to cut it down to what's best will be a challenge. The cards included should be cast-able without relying on a one-drop and an artifact, so it will probably be mostly low-CMC R and W instants. That cuts it down to probably only a quarter of a million spells to consider.
Even if it is blisteringly fast, an aggro deck will still sometimes lose to combo. I haven't seen anything yet that will improve Tribal Knights match-up with combo decks. So that could mean a discard, disruption approach. That means primarily B, maybe Haakon will be able to assemble a real team. possibly including Corpse Knight and maybe Foulmire Knight. Whether R will be a worthwhile splash is debatable. The WW Knights seem less likely to play a role here but it's not out of the question.
The mana-base won't be hard to work out once the creatures and spells are worked out.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
It probably won't see much play in Modern but then, Knight Tribal probably isn't going to be a thing anyway. It does convince me to not bother with Standard.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
My first Try: Mardu Vial Knights, it'll be fun.
The best of the new cards is probably Fervent Champion, but he needs equipment to shine. Sunforger is probably too expensive to count on for aggro, but it looks like a good card for the deck in some number. Picking one's spells is Magic Christmas! If there's something in the new set that will transform Modern Knights, it's probably Fervent and Sunforger. Wrath of God or Supreme Verdict? Rootborn Defenses or Boros Charm for RW! Ad Nauseum? Angel's Grace for RW! Angel's Grace would probably fix a few other things but the engine is not getting online until turn-four and that's too slow to stop Grishoalbrand and perhaps some other combo decks.
The best of the new B cards seem to be Foulmire Knight and Murderous Rider though I'm not sure either is good enough to want to run B over R or G. Unless one tries a completely different approach, perhaps a value-based approach with Haakon, Stromgald Scourge. Smallpox could be a big help against Twiddle Storm if one can hit it right. One could conceivable run a Mardu Haakon deck and that would allow WB, WR as well as R and W spells to fire off of Sunforger.
You know what would be a hell of a card to cast for RW? Utter End! The possibilities are endless, of course only so many spells can fit into a creature deck and it doesn't take many at all to rule out Aether Vial.
So maybe Mardu is the answer or maybe it will turn out to be Naya. Nothing in Naya colors really seems to help against fast combo; Mardu could include hand destruction, but to be effective, it would have to be probably six cards. BW could probably handle that but I doubt Mardu can and also include some number of equipments and spells to fire off of Sunforger. Maybe RW alone could get it done, relying on spells to handle enchantments and perhaps artifacts too. There is of course the new little R guy Embereth Shieldbreaker.
A resource-denial approach with just BW is also worth thinking about. Hand Destruction plus Smallpox and some graveyard recursion could get there perhaps aided by something like Corpse Knight. Haakon, a one-drop Knight and Blasting Station would at least be fun. Altar of Dementia could also do some work. BW would obviously drop the Fervent/Sunforger scheme.
Up to this point I've taken for granted that W is part of the mix. Even though I haven't talked about the W Knights, I still think the assumption will probably be borne out.
I don't have the strength left to speculate about four-color Knights right now, even though the idea of having UW spells in the Sunforger quiver is appealing. Jeskai Knights? There could be a few UW cards without any U Knights in the mix, I suppose.
I've just now realized I haven't even thought about Stoneforge Mystic or any of the equipment enhancers, Steelshaper's Gift, Puresteel Paladin, Sigarda's Aid. etc. There's a great deal to think about.
Apologies for the rambling wall of text. Maybe there's a deck or two that will at least be good enough for FNM.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
A disruptive loop with Smitten Swordmaster might be a On-tribe way to finish the game.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Have been following this thread since almost the beginning, but didn't post until now. Now that knights tribal will get some support I want to share the decklists I'm currently playing:
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Island
1 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Plains
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
3 Birds of Paradise
2 Giver of Runes
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Unsettled Mariner
4 Knight Exemplar
3 Knight of Autumn
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Mirran Crusader
Planeswalkers
2 Vivien, Champion of the Wilds
Spells
4 Path to Exile
2 Collected Company
Enchantments
3 Retreat to Coralhelm
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Veil of Summer
2 Negate
2 Pithing Needle
2 Damping Sphere
1 Rest in Peace
1 Blast Zone
1 Bojuka Bog
Having the access to Knight of the Reliquary and Retreat to Coralhelm combo is the main reason to go bant colors, but makes the deck much more competitive. We have either the combo plan or the beatdown plan, but it usually gets opponent offward on G1. Retreat often gets sided out in games 2 y 3 if the opponent has too much disruption.
Since best knights are usually cmc 3, having mana dorks let us drop them in turn 2, something I feel is necessary in a format like modern.
Giver of Runes and Unsettled Mariner give the essential protection to our key knights to stay on the battlefield. I found out that Unsettled Mariner is the best 2CMC knight. It slows a lot midrange decks with lots of cheap removal, which are usually a problem for tribal knights, since we can´t develop a board state, and in multiples are great since the ability stacks. Also scapeshift decks can't go off if one of them is on the battlefield.
Collected Company and Vivien, Champion of the Wilds are the source of card advantage. I had 4 copies of CoCo but I am testing 2 of Vivien right now. Going tribal lets us play a copy of Cavern of Souls, fetchable with Knight of the Reliquary, something other bant company decks can't do, which helps a lot vs control.
The sideboard probably can get some work, right now is a mix of:
Graveyeard hate: Rest in Peace, Bojuka Bog
Control hate: Gaddock Teeg, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Veil of Summer
Combo hate: Damping Sphere, Negate
Pithing Needle against troublesome planeswalkers (looking at you, Liliana of the Veil
And Elspeth and Blast Zone for grindy matchups
I dont use artifact or burn hate sideboard because of the 3 Knight of Autumn mainboard. Urza decks can also get hated out with Pithing Needle.
Please tell me what do you think about it and which changes would you make to MB or SB. I find it pretty competitive and can stand a chance agaisnt the tier decks. When I get some more time I will post a Puresteel Paladin version I also run.
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Ghost Quarter
16 Plains
Creatures
3 Giver of runes
2 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Puresteel Paladin
2 Spellskite
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Knight Exemplar
4 Mirran Crusader
4 Path to Exile
Artifacts
2 Basilisk Collar
2 Colossus Hammer
1 O-Naginata
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Batterskull
Enchantments
4 Sigarda's Aid
2 Disenchant
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Damping Sphere
1 Sword of Sinew and Steel
1 Rest in Peace
1 Stony Silence
3 Leyline of Sanctity
With the unbanning of stoneforge mystic, we can run an equipment toolbox, finding the right sword/equipment in every moment. Sigarda's Aid allows us to play equipment at instant speed, for protection with the right colour sword or for unexpected kills with colossus hammer. Since we are not all in with the combo, and colossus hammer is useless without Sigarda's Aid or Puresteel Paladin, only two copies are in the deck (maybe should be even one). Still, it is fetchable with Stoneforge Mystic if needed.
The deck has a lot of protection with Giver of Runes, Spellskite and the instant speed swords. The main goal is to protect and equip a Mirran Crusader for the right protections and strike for the win.
I see this deck going BW or RW instead of monoW with the new additions from Throne of Eldraine, but still have to look into this. Those colours would give the deck a bit more of interaction, something it currently lacks. Even could go WU for counters and a playset of Unsettled Mariner for more protection. What do you think?
Maindeck (60)
2 Foulmire Knight // Profane Insight
2 Murderous Rider // Swift End
1 Smitten Swordmaster // Curry Favor
4 Fervent Champion
4 Knight of the Ebon Legion
2 Corpse Knight
4 Inspiring Veteran
4 Worthy Knight
4 Acclaimed Contender
2 Benalish Marshal
4 Knight Exemplar
4 Aether Vial
2 Ancient Ziggurat
2 Blood Crypt
2 Concealed Courtyard
3 Inspiring Vantage
1 Mountain
2 Plains
1 Silent Clearing
2 Swamp
4 Tournament Grounds
4 Unclaimed Territory
Sideboard (4)
4 Embereth Shieldbreaker // Battle Display
Shared via TopDecked MTG
https://www.topdecked.me/decks/9f50d5a4-e541-47a5-91f0-271336d60a8a
this is my first thought on a list for mardu... any thoughts
It's hard to imagine how it will do against other aggro decks. I have the feeling Affinity would smoke it like a cheap cigar, but Affinity isn't popular these days. Also Affinity is not hard to hate out with side-board cards and the Shield Breakers are a start there.
Humans would probably get bigger faster and they have some disruption. Merfolk have cheaper Lords and Island Walk.
There are a lot of creatures for any deck to deal with but many decks put out big creatures without worrying about Lords. I don't think these guys would get big enough fast enough to pressure BGx decks.
This thing has nothing but possibly speed to deal with Ad Nauseam, Neoform, Control or any number of other decks. If Neoform hits the Nuts you'll just lose, same with Ad Nauseam. You might have enough horseower to compete with UW Control but I don't know.
Worthy Knight and Corpse Knight are interesting together. Curry Favor counts the little guys and Benalish Marshal also pumps those little Humans. Acclaimed Contender and Profane Insight are a little card-advantage, but it's not much.
It isn't really fair to make a judgement without anything more than my pitiful little bit of intuition, but I don't see Knights competing as an Aggro deck and I'm not really moved from that position by this list. My experience with Mono-W Vial Knights was I could beat Burn, Zombies and Rakdos all day long but I struggled against anything else. This deck won't even have the same game against those decks without the pro-R/B and the life-gain.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
This deck wants R and B turn one, R, W and B turn-two, and WW, BB, and R on turn three and Ancient Ziggurat, Tournament Ground and Unclaimed Territory don't count towards the BB.
You are going to need about eighteenteen genuine B sources to drop Swift End on-curve. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth would go a long way towards fixing this, but I think you're going to have to build a mana-base that supports BB on turn-three first, and then see what you can do for the rest. You may have to reconsider some of the cards you are playing.
The first step is to run mainly Bx duals; I think this will be essential. Fetches are also going to be mandatory.
I think it's best to reduce either W or R or both to a splash to accomplish this. Without any equipment, Fervent Champion is not worth the pressure on the mana-base, so cutting him would go a long way towards easing the mana demands. Having BB and WW on turn-three will be easier if R isn't needed at all until turn-two.
the following would provide the number of sources needed to cast everything in the main-deck on curve, including Swift End. This means 18+ B sources usable for spells to get 1BB on turn-three, 18+ W sources to get 1WW on turn-three, and 14+ R sources to get R on turn one.Assuming we ditch Fervent Champion for a B or W one-drop,
We have more than enough B and W sources to make that BR or WR on turn-two.
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Prismatic Vista
2 Godless Shrine
1 Blood Crypt
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Concealed Courtyard
2 Silent Clearing
2 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Mountain
There's a little flexibility, but I wouldn't reduce the number of basics, and I wouldn't run more than two Horizon Lands, in fact, a three-one split of Concealed Courtyard-Silent Clearing would be fine.
This mana-base should also give you good support for side-board spells.
Here's a link to the resource I used for the number of sources.
Vial decks don't usually run this many lands but Vial decks don't usually run three colors. And Vials can't put anything in play on-curve and they obviously don't cast spells - not even Adventures.
EDIT: Changes have been made since original post, primarily to support R, 1R, and 1WW spells. 1BB is also supported. I finally got it to support R on curve. Man, that was a job of work!
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
I think the best plan is just to pick one of the core flavours of knight archetype and go from there. It's clear that there are now ample cards to support an aggro plan, an equipment/value plan, and the Haakon, Stromgald Scourge plan. Trying to mix all of these things together is probably a mistake. This is why I think Mardu is the wrong direction to go. It seems to me that it gets pulled in too many directions at once.
I've tried out of a few of these over the past week and have really been liking the WR aggro build. This is what I've been running:
4 Arid Mesa
3 Sunbaked Canyon
3 Inspiring Vantage
2 Castle Ardenvale
5 Snow-Covered Plains
3 Sacred Foundry
Creatures
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Student of Warfare
3 Venerable Knight
4 Inspiring Veteran
4 Worthy Knight
3 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Knight Exemplar
3 Acclaimed Contender
3 On Thin Ice
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Fling
Artifacts
4 Aether Vial
3 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 On Thin Ice
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Worship
2 Stony Silence
1 Paladin en-Vec
3 Wear // Tear
3 Damping Sphere
3 Unclaimed Territory
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Marsh Flats
4 Windswept Heath
1 Temple Garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
3 Godless Shrine
2 Silent Clearing
1 Forest
1 Swamp
2 Knight of the Ebon Legion
3 Dauntless Bodyguard
4 Corpse Knight
4 Worthy Knight
2 Blacklance Paragon
4 Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
1 Knight Exemplar
2 Acclaimed Contender
2 Knight of Autumn
2 Midnight Reaper
2 Murderous Rider
4 Grisly Salvage
1 Cribswap
Enchantments
1 Etchings of the Chosen
1 Survival Cache
Artifacts
4 Aether Vial
Ultimately, I don't think anyone is going to pick up Knight Tribal with the expectation that it's the best thing going on in Modern. You might as well play humans if that's how you feel. Personally, there are few better feelings than scraping out a win against a Tier 1 or 2 deck on the back of this under-powered albeit flavourful tribe.