MTG Salvation

Quote from DEspite »

Speaking of Creativity pulling 2 wincons, if you put a Dragonlord Kolaghan and an Emrakul you can actually just straight up hit the opponent for 21. And even off of a Creativity x=1, Dragonlord Kolaghan is not embarassing.


Tho my personal spice is to play Lightning Greaves, this way Polymorph won't pick up the Lightning Greaves while Creativity x=2 can still allow for a Shrouded hasty Emrakul

Great minds think alike! I did consider the d-lord kolaghan for some time. Thing is,I'm put off by any target that can be solved with a spot removal. Still, 6 hasty damage in the air is not nothing, and I like that if there's a teferi on the board u can probably kill him in 1 swing. Perhaps the biggest upside is unlike Iona, you could actually hardcast her a lot of the time.

I wonder if I can get a foil kolaghan easily..

Quote from MarcWizard »

Quote from DEspite »

Speaking of Creativity pulling 2 wincons, if you put a Dragonlord Kolaghan and an Emrakul you can actually just straight up hit the opponent for 21. And even off of a Creativity x=1, Dragonlord Kolaghan is not embarassing.


Tho my personal spice is to play Lightning Greaves, this way Polymorph won't pick up the Lightning Greaves while Creativity x=2 can still allow for a Shrouded hasty Emrakul

Great minds think alike! I did consider the d-lord kolaghan for some time. Thing is,I'm put off by any target that can be solved with a spot removal. Still, 6 hasty damage in the air is not nothing, and I like that if there's a teferi on the board u can probably kill him in 1 swing. Perhaps the biggest upside is unlike Iona, you could actually hardcast her a lot of the time.

I wonder if I can get a foil kolaghan easily..

If you want a target that doesn't die to spot removal easily there's Shalai, Voice of Plenty, even if you draw her she's perfectly castable and can protect the combo!

But if we're comparing Shalai and Iona, then... the only upside is her castability. Kolaghan offers something different (and very attractive when X=2), which makes her a contender with Iona.

I have a playset of rptq emrakul, and it does look great. And it's a foil alt art emrakul at maybe 5 bucks more than a normal one.

Quote from SnK-Arcbound »

I have a playset of rptq emrakul, and it does look great. And it's a foil alt art emrakul at maybe 5 bucks more than a normal one.

yea im all about the alt arts, which is why I'm using prerelease emmy and vault iona, and FNM paths and pushes. I want a foil AA Saheeli Sublime, but she actually falls into the category of "you can't buy this even if you got the cash". Literally can't be found in my locale.

About Jeskai, here's what I play right now:



The problem I have with this version is just how slow it is, sure you can goldfish a T4 Emrakul but it's so fragile you often have to slow yourself down a couple of turns just so you can try to protect the Polymorph.

No legions landing? Legions Landing and raise the alarm is how you threaten a turn 3 polymorph or creativity. I think with countermagic u want to play even more instant speed token makers, because you hold up mana and if nothing is worth countering your drop tokens on the board. 4 secure seems overdoing it as sometimes u just want an efficient generator that u can use turn 2 or 3.

I always thought that Legion's Landing doesnt fit this style of deck because it's sorcery speed, but yeah I'll try it out.

Has WOTC ever printed a Raise the Alarm with a different name?

Quote from DEspite »

I always thought that Legion's Landing doesnt fit this style of deck because it's sorcery speed, but yeah I'll try it out.

Has WOTC ever printed a Raise the Alarm with a different name?

There are a few 2 cmc, produce 2 token cards, but Raise is the only one that's instant speed.

Legion's landing is OK in your jeskai deck the same way Serum Visions would be OK in your jeskai deck. It's one mana, best played on turn 1, and sets you up for an awesome turn 2 and 3.

I just want to remind you cats that this is ALL YOUR FAULT.

Yeah id rather play bitterblossom and secure the wastes than legions landing or raisr the alarm.

Upside is much higher and will be more valuable in a sideboarded g2 3. In game 1 you probably get them with creativity easily

Quote from Offhisgame »

Yeah id rather play bitterblossom and secure the wastes than legions landing or raisr the alarm.

Upside is much higher and will be more valuable in a sideboarded g2 3. In game 1 you probably get them with creativity easily

What do you think of Search for Azcanta? It not only can be a mana-rock, the ability literally also searches for all of our combo pieces and can shunt Emrakul away from our hand at the same time!

Quote from Offhisgame »

Yeah id rather play bitterblossom and secure the wastes than legions landing or raisr the alarm.

Upside is much higher and will be more valuable in a sideboarded g2 3. In game 1 you probably get them with creativity easily

That sounds great in theory, please let me know how your games go.

My experience with bitterblossom is I have to board it out most of the time. Nobody is playing jund or grixis control. It's only good against UW out of the current meta. Against aggro (spirits, humans, phoenix, dredge) and tron, it's basically a dead draw. And these 5 decks alone form a large % of your meta. If you're seeing plenty of jund and grixis in your locale then by all means, blossom away.

Secure the wastes produces the same effect as raise at 3 cmc, or turn 3. The only time it becomes an upside is when you are past turn 4 and technically should have combo'ed already. Raise the alarm as I mentioned works with legion's Landing to ramp you 1 turn ahead. Legion's landing also serves a secondary function in padding your life total against the ubiquitous aggro in modern, and it if flips, then it does even more work than secure the wastes in the late game.

Raise costing 2 is also ideal for another reason. On turn 3, the turn before you expect to combo, you can spend 1 mana on a discard spell to strip any spot removal or countermagic, then hold up 2 for the Raise and check the opponent.

Quote from MarcWizard »

Raise costing 2 is also ideal for another reason. On turn 3, the turn before you expect to combo, you can spend 1 mana on a discard spell to strip any spot removal or countermagic, then hold up 2 for the Raise and check the opponent.

This exact reason is why I play Beckon Apparition, not only it is incidental graveyard hate, the fact that on turn 3 I can hold up 2 mana counterspells (or Gigadrowse I guess) while still threatening a token is really nice.

Most times when a interesting card is printed with relevant effects and in the right colors there is a debate on whether the card warrants inclusion.

This isn't one of those times.

Kaya's Guile

The only questions are:

1. What does this replace?
2. How many copies in the main?

It's with a heavy heart that I announce the migration of this primer.

I've chosen MTG the Source as the destination. I don't know where the next Modern discussion forum will be, but the Source seems to be the next most visited site, albeit for legacy.

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?33033-Primer-Mardu-Creativity-(Sword-amp-Shield)

Marc, how about a Discord server? I guess a lot of primers here are migrating there, I sure would support it. If we could, I guess we should merge with the polymorph thread, we can create multiple "polymorph" like channels.

Quote from DHWorlds_BsB »

Marc, how about a Discord server? I guess a lot of primers here are migrating there, I sure would support it. If we could, I guess we should merge with the polymorph thread, we can create multiple "polymorph" like channels.

I'm all for a discord channel, will create one and post link here. edit: https://discord.gg/6XSxmB7

Regarding polymorph, I don't think its a good idea to combine the 2, because while both decks want to flip up their libraries and hit a fatty, the color combinations played are typically different; the state-of-the-art polymorph deck employs new-teferi to instant-speed their polymorph, and they generally play a longer game with no real plan B, but they have a stronger control game. This mardu deck is more proactive with discard, generates more tokens, and can finish games with token beatdown, but has less control over the opponent.

Further, Creativity can perform stunts with artifacts as well, which changes the scenario completely when it comes to payoffs AND how our spell interacts with opponents- for eg, against their ensnaring bridge.

Someone complimented my Emrakul today, hehe. Just got back from Agorahobby's June Modern Championship, where I went 6th into swiss rounds and got knocked out round one by mana screw.

The list today:


Round 1: BYE

Score 1-0
More like, the opponent is a no-show. Honestly I'd rather play magic. I hardly get the time off to do this.

Round 2: Gx Tron (Lost 1-2)
G1 was pretty much auto-loss. I make some tokens, he casts Ugin, I have no way back.
IN: 2 Crumble to Dust, 1 Avacyn, 2 Stony Silence - OUT: 2 Fatal Push, 2 Inquisition, 1 Iona
G2 I manage to make him stumble on the tron with hand disruption, then hit 4 lands and crumble a tron land. In that window I win with creativity into Emrakul. He has an O stone out but won't have enough mana to activate before I swing next turn.
G3 I crumble on turn 4, but it's one turn too late; and in that one turn he has his tron active, he casts an Ugin. Once again, it's lights out by unreasonable bomb.

Score: 1-1
Here I thought this archetype would be in hiding thanks to Hogaak. But there isn't a SINGLE altar of dementia in the room. I can't believe this. Crumble is a better plug, but Alpine Moon is the only thing fast enough in these colors. It's a floodgate tho, one that can be easily opened with Nature's Claim.

Round 2: Red Deck Wins (Win 2-1)
G1 He manages to get me with a flurry of 1-drop prowess creatures. The last swiftspear I am unable to remove and he throws his burn spells liberally at my tokens so she can keep getting through for 4 damage, which makes his Light up the Stage live. Lava Dart turns even his land topdecks into kill spells and additional Prowess. If I wasn't getting killed by it I'd admire how efficient his deck is against me.
IN: 2 Teyo, 1 Saheeli, 1 Wrath of God - OUT: 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Bitterblossom
Saheeli and Wrath aren't the best cards, but I am literally out of cards to swap for the life-loss cards that we are definitely swapping out.
G2 Teyo is MVP here, coming down after I path and push a couple of threats, creating a wall which then becomes an Emrakul. With no outs, the opponent scoops.
G3 he has 2 prowess peeps out AND a phoenix. I have 1 soldier token and 2 spirits. He attacks and I block only the phoenix, and I drop to 12 life. I untap and kill both my remaining tokens, putting both Iona and Emrakul on the board.

Score: 2-1
Well, that's the deck doing what it was meant to. I'm wondering if I shouldn't have an extra helix or collective brutality in the side.

Round 3: EldraTron (Win 2-1)
G1 He has the turn 2 thought knot seer. Very very unreasonable. What is this, eldrazi winter? I'm not dressed for this. A reality smasher follows and well, my reality is smashed.
IN: 2 Crumble to Dust, 1 Wrath of God, 1 Avacyn - OUT: 1 Iona, 1 Nahiri, 1 Bitterblossom, 1 Mardu Charm
G2 is an awkward battle of attrition - one I didn't think I could win but I somehow did, with his lone TKS being unable to keep up with my flurry of tokens. On the final turn I have stripped his hand of the bigger threats like smasher and pathed his Endbringer - his only removal is dismember and I have 6 1/1 attackers for his 6 life. When I show him a path for his TKS, he scoops.
G3 is the tightest game I play today. I go for 1 on turn 4, and hit Emrakul. On his side of the board:
2 TKS
1 Reality Smasher
5 lands
Chalice on 1
I have a path and inquisition that are dead thanks to his chalice.
My life total is 13. His, 20.
I pass the turn, he untaps and takes a while to think. I don't blame him. If he swings all out, I'll block and kill his smasher, leaving him with 8 permanents, and when I swing back he will have to sac chalice or TKS, either releasing my removal or letting me draw. In the end, he elects to drop a Matter Reshaper and pass.
I untap, draw another creativity. I know I have to swing, and then make my decisions from there. At this point there is no way playing defensive will save me, since I have no way to make tokens. Ah, a lingering souls would have been BRILLIANT. I attack, and he sacrifices 5 lands and reshaper, which flips up an expedition map. he has 2 TKS and 1 smasher on the board, exactly 13. It's my turn to think, and my opponent gets a little impatient - "Do you have it or not?" - I'm not sure what he feels "it" is. I decide to cast creativity on his smasher, discarding my inquisition to let it resolve. If he flips up another smasher, he wins. Literally anything else will not be enough barring another smasher drawn. He hits.... a 3rd thought knot seer. Enough for 12 damage, leaving me at 1. He scoops.

Score: 3-1
Although Crumble to Dust is a lot slower than Moon, I didn't miss the Blast Zones peppering the tables today. It really isn't an end-all. Nothing beats clocking or comboing these big mana opponents. Multiple moons could pin down someone counting on Claim, but Blast Zone will wipe em all at once.

Round 4: ID into top 8 (6th Seed)

Score: 3-1-1

Round 5 (Swiss): Copycat and Friends
G1: He hits my spells with Spell Pierce not once, not twice, but 3 times. First pierce catches my turn 1 inquisition. Second pierce catches my turn 2 thoughtseize. When I try to lingering souls, he snap-pierces that, too. I make some tokens and do some damage, but when he has the combo I don't have the path or revolt for push necessary to stop it.
IN: nothing. I got nothing for this match up, apparently.
G2: Being on the play is a lot better. He spends some removal to soften the damage, and when he tries to combo I helix his Saheeli with the activation on the stack. It's a mistake he cannot come back from, as I go for 2, he bolts 1 token and I hit Emrakul.
G3: Non-game. My first hand is a 5 lander with Souls and Raise the alarm. I'm on the draw and this looks like a suicidal hand against a combo deck, so I mull. It goes downhill REAL quick.
6 card hand: no lands
5 card hand: Godless shrine, 1 thoughtseize, 1 push, 1 raise the alarm, 1 souls - Keep, scry a second thoughtseize to the bottom.
I proceed to draw no lands for 5 turns while he hits all of his. When the small teferi comes down, I extend the hand.

Score: 3-2-1
Wow, that last game left me REALLY salty. you'd think playing 24 lands would be enough.

Overall, I think I'm going to need more ways to deal with the tron decks.

Wednesday night modern @ Agorahobby, 23 man. The below list goes 2-1.



Mardu Charm is replaced by Kaya's Guile in the maindeck, with the latter allowing 2 modes, and lifegain/GY hate being very relevant in the deck and against the meta respectively. In the board, a Ravenous Trap is replaced by a more permanent answer against Hogaak in the form of Worship. It may sound counterintuitive against a deck that can mill you out; but this deck has an Emrakul main and will have to find their enchantment removal if they want the beatdown kill. Also, I cracked a shiny one from a gideon spellbook. So sue me.

Match 1 vs Vizier combo (Loss 0-2)
G1 is basically unbeatable, I have 1 removal spell and he has 2 layers of Giver of Runes to back up his combo. I thoughtseized his Eladamri's Call but an Eternal witness brings it back anyway.
Boarding: 1 Wrath of God, 1 Elesh Norn, IN. 1 Iona, 1 Bitterblossom, OUT.
G2 I make a rookie mistake and keep a 5 lander with 2 discard spells. Was worried about mulling down and missing lands. My deck proceeds to hand me 5 more lands, 1 bitterblossom, 1 helix and 1 bitterblossom. This was pathetically insufficient. I need to be more greedy with my mulligans.

Score: 0-1
I think I let the deck down in G2 instead of the other way around.

Match 2 vs Mono Red Prison (Win 2-1)
G1 I flip a legion's landing turn 3 but don't have the combo. He lands a couple of goblin rabblemasters but I manage to stay alive long enough to go off. I pull both Emrakul and Iona blocking red for the win. My life goes pretty low, though.
Board: 1 Bitterblossom, 2 Thoughtseize OUT; 2 Wear // Tear, 1 Worship
G2 goes badly as he does a turn 2(!) Chandra, Torch using 2 rituals, then upticks for RR and casts chalice for one. What. The. Hell. I haven't even gotten my bearings when he drops a Sorcerous Spyglass and sees my hand of fatal push, path to exile and Nahiri, and conveniently blanks the last spell in my hand. The game drags because he can't find the last mana to cast Lattice and lock me out, but eventually Torch of Defiance ultimates and even though I manage to fetch my Iona, he eventually casts enough artifacts for 5 damage a pop to kill me.
G3 plays out a lot more like a proper game of magic. A chalice on 1 is largely ignored, and I trade tokens and helixes strategically with incoming gobbos and their token minions to stay alive. I go for 2 with the remaining tokens and get Iona and Emrakul on board; he untaps and fetches a bridge with Karn; but I am ready with a wear // tear in my hand to seal the win.

Score: 1-1
Artifact removal is really important in this match up, I only wish we could have more slots in the modern sideboard.

Match 3 vs Hogaak (Win 2-1)
G1 I gamely try to stay alive against a wave of zombies, 1 vengevine and 1 hogaak. His draws aren't even that good; but Hogaak's average draw is 14 power, 8 of which is trample damage. My path spent on vengevine and my tokens exhausted, I die.
Board: Iona, 2 thoughtseize, 2 bitterblossom OUT; Elesh Norn, 2 Wheel of Sun and Moon, 1 Wrath of God, 1 Worship IN
G2 the opponent keeps a slow hand that does nothing the first 2 turns. This means my turn 4 Emrakul is plenty fast enough to seal the win against his board of 2 lands and 1 Altar. What was going on over there I wonder?
G3 is the closest game. I path his turn 1 stitcher's supplier, but not before it put 1 vengevine, 1 bridge and 1 gravecrawler in. Turn 2 sees the opponent evoke a wispmare and cast gravecrawler, which means me getting hit by vengevine and I'm down to 14 (turn 1 shock), and he's got 1 token and 1 crawler. I spend my turn 2 casting Wheel of Sun and Moon, so I'm a sitting duck for 8 damage next turn bringing me to 6. I pass with 2 mana and a fetch; I block the vengevine and gravecrawler and take 2 more damage from the lone token, bringing me to 4 life, but at least the bridge is exiled now, in case another wispmare takes out the Wheel. I fetch tapped, going down to 3. My deck hands me the 4th land I need to survive; I shock and go to ONE LIFE, and cast Wrath of God, putting his crawler and vine on the bottom of his library. I've secured the board but I'm not out of the woods yet; Hogaak plays plenty of enchantment removal. His next turn sees a Insolent Neonate; I cast Kaya's Guile and force him to sacrifice it without value, while I pad my life total to 5. Fortunately I have my lingering souls to flashback, and creativity in my hand. I pull Elesh Norn, and while the opponent manages to remove Wheel with a wispmare, the 0/1 doesn't buy enough time for him to come back. I win with a 3/3 token and Elesh Norn beats.

Score: 2-1
The Hogaak deck is crazy strong. Every time I face it, even when I win, it feels more because the opponent drew badly. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite does an excellent job of locking the deck down, and is easily the strongest card against it.

Hey Marc, the list is looking tight.
I took a version of the deck out for a spin at my LGS last night.
went a pathetic 0-2-1 against Living End, Seismic Assault, and Maritlage snow.
I jammed a few games with some friends after. Izzet Pheonix, and a Sultai Mid-range going 1:2 against them.

Being my first venture out I expected to take a bunch of L's, but even with the bad beats I always felt like as long as I had a token, I could steal the game.

I can see why you've been so hot on Mardu charm, and the instant-speed duress mode. As fizzling to removal has been the rough spot in all the match-ups so far -- too bad their aren't less cmc options for this effect.

I was running Bolts instead of Paths in effort to smooth the manabase, but other than in a few niche cases I almost always wished it was path instead.

I ran 2 Kaya's Guile I think this card is gas. MB yard hate gave much needed space against living end, and pheonix and has great utility against the rest of the field.

I also had 2 Saheeli, Sublime Artificier, and to be honest i'm very medium on this card. I want to take it to another FNM before I make a judgement call, but it looks like you've put her in the SB - I'd love to hear your thoughts.


In your last list, what are your other 8 lands? are you still on the two filter lands?
I'm personally looking at the cycling lands as a way to dig into some more action.
I ran a Sunbaked Canyon, and the 1 of felt good. I'm considering running a Secluded Steppe, and Canyon Slough in place of Plains, and Blood crypt.

I'm enjoying the list and love the consistent tweaks and updates your making to it.

I didn’t realize I was missing lands! Gonna have to update that when I get home from work. I believe the missing lands are 2 rugged prairies, 5 basics (3 mountain 1 plains 1 swamp) and 1 mutavault.

The reason behind prairies is sometimes u flip legions landing and have 4 mana on turn 3, but don’t have the triple red. Rugged prairies solve that problem.

If your losses are from creativity targets getting sniped, you might wanna tune your play style to slow roll a little more. Where possible, use discard the turn before you go off to check, or simply go for more targets. Waiting to make another land drop may be wise. Usually when I go for 2 or 3, the opponent is only able to handle one, because leaving up mana for 2 removals is punishing for any deck. Also, always attack first and cast creativity in the second main. This increases the chance they will use their precious removal to preserve their life total. When u declare attacker’s, *read your opponent’s expression*. This will clue you in as to whether they are making a decision (to use removal or not) or resigned to taking damage. It’s not 100%, and you need to tell the difference between confidence (yea I got removal but I’m keeping it for your combo) and resignation. This game of chicken has won me a number of games against midrange decks, sometimes 2 damage at a time.

Re: saheeli. Like you, I’m pretty medium. The meta is too fast to play a 3 cmc young pyro. I might give her slot to something that handles the prevalent big mana and gy meta.

Re: Kaya’s guile. The card did good whenever I drew it. Definitely staying in the main and I’m wondering if I should drop something for a second copy.

Re: sunbaked. I like it, I’m just cautious about painlands because the build does itself plenty of damage. Some helixes main helps with thoughtseize and bitterblossom, but you have to be careful not to overload your life as a resource. I’m considering dropping bitterblossom (again) because lately the card has been more liability than savior. If I did that, I think I could reasonably play the canopy lands.

Re: bolts vs paths. I didn’t make this decision lightly. Bolts sound so much better because they let you pivot to being the beat down so much easier. However, after losing games to phoenixes and vengevines and gravecrawlers I realized it wasn’t my decision if I wanted more wins. On the upside, path to exile has gotten me to 4 or 5 mana ahead of schedule, and allowed me to win with creativity that way, so it’s not a purely defensive spell sometimes.

M20 has provided yet another powerful piece of tech.

Chandra, Acolyte of Flame does 2 things that the deck needs:
1. she can provide bodies for attacking, or more importantly, creativity.
2. she can "snap" basically every single instant and sorcery in the deck. Every. Single. One. Including Indomitable Creativity.

By providing bodies every single turn off of a non-creature, non-artifact permanent, Chandra Acolyte fills a niche requirement for this deck, dodging Creativity's artifact/creature pick up while providing the utility of Bitterblossom's tokens every turn without the lifeloss, and Snapcaster Mage, which is incredible for a single card. The cost to this power is being vulnerable to both combat and noncombat damage.

Here's my post M20 list that will run the Bridge-less battlefield tonight.

Match report for Agorahobby's Win-a-box on 13 July. (end result 3-2)



Round 1 vs Neobrand (Win, 2-0)
G1 I open with a thoughtseize and take a Simian Spirit Guide to slow him down. I don't see the combo there, on turn 2 I develop my board with 2 soldiers. Turn 3 I quicken the clock with a Chandra who attacks with 2 elementals. Turn 4 I check his hand again with Chandra's -2 on the thoughtseize I casted on turn 1. I see a neoform and take it. On turn 5 my opponent isn't able to do anything meaningful and I creativity for 2 into Iona and Emmy, blocking green.
G2 The opponent is on the play and he mulls to 5 looking for THAT hand. He doesn't find it. In the meantime, I have the T1 landing T2 Raise the Alarm T3 Creativity into Iona. As you can imagine the tilt is quite real. Not that Neobrand should be complaining about my turn 3 Iona.

Score: 1-0
We're off to a good start and Chandra is already showing off. She adds to aggro, provides free targets for creativity and does a good snapcaster mage impression.

Round 2 vs Amulet Titan (Loss, 0-2)
G1 I lose the die roll, and he gets a titan on the board before I can do my thing. I hit Iona and name green. If I'd hit Emmy I probably would have taken the game, just too bad.
G2 the poor luck continues and I mana screw on 2 lands while the opponent runs smoothly, setting up a value chain with tolaria wests of summoner's pacts for titans and keeping up additional counterspell pacts to counter any attempt I make to gain a foothold. I never really make any impact.

Score: 1-1
Bad beats.

Round 3 vs Humans (Loss, 0-2)
G1 I lose the die roll (i lose every die roll today, apparently), and the opponent has the nut: T1 vial, T2 vial in a champ and then small Thalia, slowing me down while I get clocked.
G2 I can't blame this loss on my luck, because I do something real stupid and forget to board out Iona. I DID remember to board in Elesh Norn. Unfortunately, the creativity hits Iona (because Murphy doesn't let up and you know what his laws are like) which is completely useless against the vialled humans. He puts her neatly away with a Detention guy and continues beating me to a pulp even though I managed to helix the deputy, since iona is just 1 blocker. If the creativity had hit either emmy or elesh, the game would have been mine.

Score: 1-2
Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Round 4 vs Jund (Win 2-1)
G1 I lose the die roll (I wasn't kidding) and the opponent leads with a thoughtseize revealing my hand of inquisition, thoughtseize, souls, souls and 3 lands. I feel kinda bad for him but we have a laugh about it. He takes my thoughtseize and on my turn I inquisition away a liliana, the last hope. Can't have that running round can we. Crazily enough I manage to lose this round with a silly misplay despite having the advantage. When his only creature is a scavenging ooze i try to -2 my chandra targeting a Kaya's guile - which OF COURSE gets exiled with the ooze. WAKE UP, MAN! The attrition game goes on but I ultimately die with the opponent at 1 life. Sigh.
G2 the deck kind of runs itself. I draw both my sideboard bitterblossoms and decide to go all in. True enough he doesn't find his Plague Engineer or maelstrom pulse, and dies to faeries.
G3 Chandra decides to become the all star of the deck, providing beats, absorbing some damage, ticking up and flashing back removals and hand disruption. The opponent finally manages to kill her through my tokens, but it's too late; the card advantage and damage lead is too much. I finish this round with token beats.

Score: 2-2
It's really not my imagination: Chandra, Acolyte of Flame doesn't just lend resilience and additional disruption to the deck; she's also an offensive powerhouse minus the lifeloss of bitterblossom that lets the deck pivot a LOT harder toward beatdown.

Round 5 vs Neobrand
G1 I lose the die roll (ha, ha, ha) and luckily enough my opponent doesn't have the turn 1. I, however have 2 discard spells in my hand and spend the first 2 turns making sure I don't suddenly die. A couple of soldiers and Chandra beat him down while I hold up Path to Exile for Griselbrand.
G2 He manages to go off. I don't remember what I'd done, but I definitely wasn't able to stop him. It was a Lab Maniac finish. It was at the bottom of his library and he was sweating bullets trying to find it.
G3 He tries to go off but I'm ready with a Path to exile, and hit the griselbrand with the first activation on the stack. At this time he's already low on life and doesn't have enough to draw another 7, meaning he has to go off with this draw 7; which is a tall order. I take the game with token beats.

Score: 3-2
Chandra Chandra Chandra. Finding her foil was pretty hard, but totally worth it. Her position in the deck is as solid as Kaya's Guile.

Overall the deck did okay today, I think the pilot needs to be more careful.

So, I've recently reassembled this deck together and EVEN without Nahiri or little Chandra I cruised to a 4-1 finish at my LGS. I'll be farming for those walkers very soon, i'm really impressed. MarcWizard, START FOILING THOSE WALKER MY MAN, LET'S MAKE THIS DECK A THING AGAIN!!!!