MTG Salvation

Quote from Drake0525 »

OK, obviously I need to work more Garruk into this deck. I'm not sure what I'd cut though. Dauntless Escort is a very experimental move on my part. The Tron match-up has been a huge problem. Last time I played against it, I casted 3 waves in a single turn (after recovering my field from pyroclasm) then hardcasted a Behemoth for a 50 point attack, only to be foiled by an oblivion stone. Even if I had artifact kill in this deck, making my creatures indestructable was the only real answer to that I could come up with - wrath of god and supreme verdict would also delay the G-wave gameplan by reducing my board presense, so those cards are also an issue. If Dauntless escort is not correct, would something like Soul of New Phyrexia be better?

Putting a card like Dauntless Escort in your main really defeats the purpose of the initial 60. In your initial 60, versus an unknown metagame (or even a known metagame), you want to be able to get your devotion count as high as possible as quickly as possible. Dauntless Escort, or other solutions as such, really takes away from that. I mean, Dauntless Escort costs 3, adds 1 to your devotion count, can't naturally be cast, and has to be sacrificed to be used. Something like Soul of New Phyrexia is colourless, so again it does nothing.

Honestly, having your board wiped out because of a OStone on the table is a play error. Versus decks that run Verdict or Wrath, the bigger issue IMHO is not the board wipe but being able to resolve Primal Commands and Genesis Waves. If you resolve a Genesis Wave (or multiples in one turn), you're winning the game and there's nothing that a wrath effect can do.

Soul of the Harvest is also an experiment on my part. It's my way of coping in a format where Glimps of Nature is banned. It's a useful one-of in the deck. If I feel like my devotion isn't high enough to combo-out, or I don't have a wave in hand, then I tutor Soul of the Harvest with Primal Command, then play creatures and draw cards until I hit critical mass. It's a strategy that works really well - there are a lot of creatures in this deck, and my hand fills up very quickly with Soul of the Harvest in play.

Honestly, I look at a 6/6 trampler for 6 and I want Primeval Titan each and every time. It fetches me a win condition (Kessig Wolf Run + Stomping Ground) or a Nykthos. He has an ETB effect, so even if he gets Pathed I still get value out of him. Cards like Wistful Selkie (which you have two of) are much better value for your mana when it comes to drawing cards.

Hahaha, I live on the edge! In all seriousness though, I understand Primeval Titan is considered pretty integral to the build, but with 4x Nykthos Shrine to Nyx in the deck, I never have problems getting that out. With that in mind, devotion is actually more important than having additional forests in play. You could argue "deck thinning", but I could use fetchlands for that if I wanted to. If I need to beat my opponent into submission my weapon of choice is Thrun, the Last Troll. Primeval Titan is a fun card, but he's fiscally expensive and he's staying out unless I find a matchup where I think I need him.

"Pretty" integral is an understatement. Primeval Titan is a key card to the deck. If you go back to the Primer (on page 62...I have to finish it up and then get it promoted), the Wave versions have 4 win conditions; Genesis Wave, Primeval Titan + Kessig Wolf Run, Craterhoof, and Garruk's ultimate. No Primeval Titan means you have a hard time pulling off three of those win conditions. Nykthos is all but required to pull off the first three, and Wolf Run + Stomping Ground is required for the second one. Deck thinning is not an argument for Titan. You're not looking to pull up forests with him, you're looking for ways to win.

I won't go into the fiscal argument, that's between you and your wallet. That said, he's not as cost prohibitive as he once was; SCG has him at $16 or $25 for foil versions of him (including the ever so sexy GP promo). Hell, MP ones are $14.

And Thrun vs Primeval Titan, there is no contest. Primetime stomps all over the last troll every day of the week

Quote from charlesching »

the problem with wave is that we tend to want to wave big. anything smaller than 6 is undesirable

Not necessarily true. Yes, in a perfect world we always Wave for 6 or more, but a Wave for 4 or 5 is acceptable depending on circumstances. The least I would Wave for would be 4, and if I was in a real bind and needed to Wave to stay alive.

Just FYI, I'm trying to get the primer up in a new thread, so hopefully that will be of help to people.

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