Modern Melira Pod, Archangel Spike Pod, and Junk/Abzan Pod Primer
Turn 1 Windswept Heath into Temple Garden into Birds of Paradise, Turn 2 Forest into Birthing Pod is one of the most infamous starts of Modern. It quickly leads into tutoring for the creatures that annoy your opponent the most, followed by resilient, big beats. Your opponent tapped out or went Hellbent without hate permanents? Quickly tutor for the remaining infinite combo pieces and kill them without warning...if you bothered to stick a combo in your deck. Your opponent is deathly afraid of the combo and is holding up mana and a bluff card all the time? Tutor for resilient, big beats instead and punish them for sandbagging removal. Your opponent threatens to OHKO you before you can take them down to 0 life? Tutor for the hate bears that your opponent least wants to see. Your opponent may get so annoyed by Birthing Pod that s/he boards in cards that specifically answer only it.
Melira Pod was around during some of Modern's oldest times, back when Cloudpost was still legal and 12-Post was a premier deck. Angel Pod was born relatively recently with Magic 2014's release, and No Combo Junk/Abzan Pod started being prominent with Khans of Tarkir's release.
It’s a Melira Combo (and/or Archangel Spike Combo, or No Combo) deck. It’s a Birthing Pod deck. Stop looking at me funny; this deck is the real deal. It’s got the combo win with Turn 1 Viscera Seer, Turn 2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast, Turn 3 Kitchen Finks (gain infinite life), and Turn 4 Murderous Redcap (Plague Wind and good game), and it can grind it out past hate with Birthing Pod tutoring for your answers or more creature tutors. Oh, heck, Pod often steals entire games, even if you don’t stick a combo in your deck. What? You’re still suspicious? Here, I’ll answer your questions:
Doesn’t Melira Pod just fold to Meddling Mage naming Melira?
No, it doesn’t. Just because we can’t play Melira doesn’t mean we can’t pop her out with Birthing Pod or a dead Protean Hulk. Besides, we can play a good enough aggro game to force the Mage to block our Finks eventually.
How about Scavenging Ooze naming Persist, Eternal Witness, and Reveillark?
Imagine Deathrite Shaman’s really big brother that Murderous Redcap usually can’t kill. That’s Scavenging Ooze. It’s a prick against us—it stops our combo and recursion plans, walls us to heck, then swings like a massive Goyf.
Luckily, unlike Deathrite, Ooze dies to Shriekmaw and Nekrataal. It also dies to creature removal that we can pack in our 75 such as Abrupt Decay and Dismember. Heck, it gets hosed by Linvala, Keeper of Silence. Kick it out and we’ll probably win eventually...
I hear some builds run Body Double and no blue mana land sources.
Body Double, although it is essential to the Protean Hulk kill, is not always needed for this deck to win. Sometimes, this deck just...you know...combos out. Besides, if all else fails, Birds of Paradise is in your deck, isn’t it?
I’ve got the perfect hate card for you—Grafdigger’s Cage. How do you like that?
We don’t like that card at all. Now, we can’t search for our answers to hate so efficiently. One way to fight that card is to pack Qasali Pridemage, Harmonic Sliver, Abrupt Decay, Maelstrom Pulse, or other Naturalize effects in our 75. There we go—we should be able to pick that card off in a timely fashion...
Why shouldn’t I play Twin Pod instead?
If you’re in a meta full of RG Tron and red board wipes, you’re right—why don’t you play Twin Pod instead? It’s got better match-ups against those decks because of its swifter combo and fatter creatures, and you can read more about it here!
But, if you’re in a meta full of combo decks, Infect, graveyard-abusing decks, and Wraths, you should play Melira Pod because it has better match-ups than Twin Pod against those decks. Our targeted discard doesn’t suck up as much tempo as Twin Pod’s counterspells against combo, Melira hoses Infect (while they may be stuck boarding in Melira), and we play more creatures that survive, make guys after, or come back after a Wrath than Twin Pod does.
...Alternately, you can play both decks, like I do. Each Pod deck has its own different flavour. Even if you’ve found which one you like best, that doesn’t stop you from enjoying both decks.
I hear Twin Pod can assemble their entire combo from a Kitchen Finks and a Birthing Pod. How can you do the same?
Yup, we can do the same, too. Pod Finks into Ranger of Eos and search for two Viscera Seers. Play both Seers and Pod one of them into Melira. Pod Finks again, this time into Murderous Redcap. Win. It takes 3 turns, yes, but I bet those Twin Pod guys take almost as long to get their combo out from the same stuff.
I think that should be good now. What? You want to know why we picked the stuff we did? Here’s a card-by-card guide to everything in Melira Pod and Archangel Spike Pod:
You want in on Junk/Abzan-coloured Pod action now, but you don't know how to start building your Pod deck? Here are the Pod card choices:
Creatures
The Only Reasons You’re Playing Melira Pod
Persist Dude Polishers Melira, Sylvok Outcast: Making your opponents’ creatures lose Infect isn’t the reason you play her—the absolutely sick interaction with Persist dudes is. Grab her, a Persist dude, and a sac outlet, and you’ll either win the game or make it that much harder to lose.
Master Biomancer: Not only is this another Melira, it makes your upcoming guys significantly fatter—your late-game mana dorks are now threats! Splashing blue can be ugly, though.
Infinite Sacrifice Outlets Viscera Seer: He’s 1 cmc. He’s a creature. You can Pod into him by sacrificing a Dryad Arbor. You can find him with Ranger of Eos. He’s the only sac outlet you’ll really need...besides Birthing Pod.
Ranger of Eos: He's only found in Pod decks with Viscera Seers in them, but he's awesome at finding Seers.
Cartel Aristocrat: If you want another sac outlet, she isn’t a bad option. She’s Grizzly Bears-sized on her own, she survives Pyroclasm when your other men don’t, and when you’re stuck chump blocking, she’s a thorn who keeps blocking.
Varolz, the Scar-Striped: If you’re in the market for a third sac outlet, Varolz definitely delivers. Not only does he survive Pyroclasm and Supreme Verdict, but he also refreshes Persist and pumps your other men with his omni-Scavenge ability!
Bloodthrone Vampire: Prefer sac outlets that can get infinitely large? Try this guy...as long as you like 2-mana 1/1’s!
The Only Reasons You’re Playing Archangel Spike Pod
Spike Feeder: You can pop it and gain 4 life in a pinch—that’s why Living End sideboards it—and you can also pop Phantasmal Images and refresh Persist, but really, you’re here for infinite life and power.
Archangel of Thune: Not only does it combo with an infinite sac outlet and Kitchen Finks for infinite life and power, it also combos with Spike Feeder for infinite life and power! It can also grow your army pretty fast when combined with Scavenging Ooze with dead creatures or Courser of Kruphix with fetchlands.
Persist Dudes
Kitchen Finks: It gains you infinite life with the combo out. It’s found in sideboards of a ton of decks. It gains you 4 life, trades with a Kird Ape, and blocks a Tarmogoyf against Zoo. It makes RDW cry. Run 4.
Murderous Redcap: Want to close out the game with your Persist dude? Grab this guy, and he’ll not only deal infinite damage to your opponent, he’ll also kill Platinum Angel for you. Additionally, he’s removal in a pinch.
Recursion/Resilience
Reveillark: Did Melira get countered? Did the Seer get Dismembered? Raise them both (and Murderous Redcap) with Reveillark! Also gives your hate bears another round of fun! Plus, with Body Double, Viscera Seer, and Murderous Redcap, you have a backdoor infinite combo!
Eternal Witness: Returning target anything from your graveyard to your hand sounds pretty nice.
Entomber Exarch: It’s a bigger spare Eternal Witness that only gets creatures or a guy that forces your opponent to discard noncreature cards...a bit late. Well, I guess it’s a spare Eternal Witness that only gets creatures.
Body Double: It’s an essential piece of the Protean Hulk insta-win combo. It also doubles as a final dead combo piece in a pinch.
Sun Titan: Stick this guy and you’ll probably win the game. You can raise Viscera Seer, Melira, and Kitchen Finks endlessly, not to mention all the other fun creatures you can get maximal value from.
Havengul Lich: If you can spare the blue mana, being able to pull out every combo piece in your graveyard and every single hate bear has to be pretty good. Stealing your opponent’s creatures is also pretty funny. Shame reviving guys is so expensive, though.
Hex Parasite: It can’t play the role of Melira—it costs too much to take counters off guys—but it makes turning Kitchen Finks into the entire combo much easier. Pod Finks into Ranger of Eos, search for a Viscera Seer and this guy, then play this guy and take the counter off of Finks. Pod this guy into Melira and play the Seer and you’re done.
Athreos, God of Passage: Opponents either keep losing life or you start recurring creatures—which tends to be game over for them when you have Birthing Pod out or those guys have Persist, ETB abilities, or LTB abilities. He’s fairly easily outraced, though.
Timely Hordemate: Think you can attack often? Then get a guy who revives a creature with converted mana cost 2 or less from the dead!
Noble Hierarch: Need more mana dorks? This guy is the second best at fixing your mana for you. Exalted also helps if you turn into the beatdown.
Avacyn’s Pilgrim: It’s a white mana-producing mana dork with power greater than 0. It could help.
Wall of Roots: It’s the ultimate mana dork—it doesn’t need to tap to produce mana, and it blocks creatures like a king while it does so! It can also count as 2 mana for Chord of Calling, so you can cheat in some unexpectedly large creatures while doing so.
Llanowar Elves: It’s a mana dork with power greater than 0. It could be useful.
Boreal Druid: It’s yet another mana dork with power greater than 0. It could help.
Wood Elves: I guess if you need lands that badly...
Devoted Druid: No, it does not produce infinite mana with Melira out—since you can’t put -1/-1 counters on your creatures, you can’t pay to untap it. However, it is a 2 cmc mana dork that can potentially produce 2 mana in a turn.
Card Draw/Tutoring
Courser of Kruphix: Shoving lands off the top of our library had better virtually draw us cards eventually. The life gain and big rear end are also nifty. Really want that card advantage? Keep shuffling your library with fetchlands and Birthing Pod! ...Hey, the moment you play Birthing Pod, your opponent likely knows what deck you’re on, anyway.
Fauna Shaman: Need answers fast? This girl is a nice creature tutor.
Protean Hulk: Thump this guy down with a way to kill it and you should win on the spot. Kill it with Birthing Pod, for instance, and fetch Body Double (copying Protean Hulk) and Viscera Seer. Sacrifice the Double Hulk to the Seer and fetch Melira and Murderous Redcap. Good game.
Dimir House Guard: When 4 Birthing Pods aren’t enough, this guy is practically a fifth (a 4 cmc Transmute is handy). He’s also a sac outlet in a pinch.
Restoration Angel: Not only does this chubby Angel save guys from removal, she also wipes -1/-1 counters off Persist dudes, triggers various “enters the battlefield” and “leaves the battlefield” abilities, and flies straight over potential blockers. With her in the deck, the answer to “Should I process that Kitchen Finks with no counters on it through the Birthing Pod?” is always yes. Heck, you can run 4 of her and I won’t complain.
Spellskite: Does removal keep getting aimed at Melira? Stop those shenanigans with this life-eating magnetic wall! Also stop those shenanigans involving Splinter Twin, other Auras, and pump spells with this metallic creature!
Ethersworn Canonist: Take Eidolon of Rhetoric. Make it easier to find on Turn 3 (requires Turn 1 mana dork, Turn 2 Pod only). Make it have 2 power instead of 1. Make it die to Lightning Bolt, Pyroclasm, Anger of the Gods, Shatterstorm, Ingot Chewer, Drown in Sorrow, and more. Not so attractive now, is it? ...Unless you’re against Ascendancy Storm and they’re threatening to combo off before your Turn 3.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben: We run like, what, 12 noncreature spells max? She’ll tax the dickens out of them! Yes, she hampers Chord of Calling, Birthing Pod, and our discard and removal, but not as badly as Teeg.
Gaddock Teeg: Does Wrath of God stump all your plans? Is UR Storm trying to resolve Past in Flames? Do Engineered Explosives blow up everything you land? Recruit the best Kithkin ever and you’ll never be foiled again! Shame you can’t resolve Chord of Calling and Birthing Pod with him out, but them’s the breaks.
Sin Collector: Want a worse Duress on legs that eliminates the card forever, no strings attached? Sin Collector can do the job for you. Just keep an eye on how often he whiffs if you want to maindeck 1 of him.
Tidehollow Sculler: Want Castigate on legs? Get this guy on your side! It’ll do the job for as long as it’s necessary.
Anti-Affinity
Kataki, War’s Wage: He’s only really here to shut up Affinity, but he does that job well.
Permanent Removal
Acidic Slime: It’s artifact and enchantment hate that’s never dead against any deck. After all, isn’t land destruction supposed to be good?
Mangara of Corondor: Boot target permanent? Yes, please. Wait one turn to do that? Not so great. At least he doesn’t require mana to activate.
Necrotic Sliver: Destroying target permanent is very fun. Needing 3 mana to do so is not so fun. At least you can pop it the same turn you get it.
Reclamation Sage: Got more Pithing Needle problems? Is Pyromancer Ascension getting too big for its britches? Eliminate more of those pesky artifact and enchantment problems with this Elf!
Land Destruction, Graveyard Hate, Angel Combo Protection, Etc.
Knight of the Reliquary: She’s mainly here to pull out some graveyard hate in the form of Bojuka Bog, but I’m sure she’s big enough to win games and threatening enough to eat removal. With a Ghost Quarter or Tectonic Edge, she’s also pretty good Tron hate.
Clones
Phyrexian Metamorph: Want a valuable creature on your opponent’s side of the field, but can’t afford the blue mana for Sower of Temptation? Want another Birthing Pod? Run this versatile guy, and it’ll do all of that and more...except actually kill legendary creatures!
Phantasmal Image: Are you lucky enough to have access to blue mana? Then you’re lucky enough to have a much cheaper Clone! Copying Persist guys is pretty fun, as it’s bound to come back if it gets targeted.
Life Gain
Siege Rhino: It gains one less life than Obstinate Baloth, but it blocks Goyf better, the Trample can be handy, and that life drain can definitely help you race.
Obstinate Baloth: When four life gain critters aren’t enough, add a fifth larger one to your crew. Against Jund, it’s also not as dead in your opening hand.
Kor Firewalker: Sick and tired of RDW? Want your hate bear to also do something against UR Storm? Try this guy!
Tree of Redemption: So you say that, despite the fact you run 4 Kitchen Finks and at least one Obstinate Baloth in the sideboard, that you still have trouble against aggro. Well, if you do, exchange your life total with this 4-drop’s decent toughness and you just might be able to stall them out for at least another turn.
Spot Creature Removal
Shriekmaw: Podding into this guy is fairly hard, but Evoking it is pretty cheap, and Fear definitely helps you break board stalls.
Nekrataal: It costs 1 mana less than Shriekmaw and takes care of much the same stuff, especially when Podded out.
Skinrender: Are you sick of Shriekmaw and Nekrataal not hitting Bob or Tidehollow Sculler? Try this guy and you won’t be disappointed! It still hits problematic guys like Grim Lavamancer and Pestermite, but it’s a shame it won’t hit Linvala.
Archon of Justice: If you’ve got a Birthing Pod, a 6-drop, and a large, problematic creature on the other side of the field, this could be the guy for you.
Polukranos, World Eater: Want some flexibility between killing multiple X/1’s, X/2’s like Leonin Arbiter, and the occasional X/3? This guy not only kills those weenies, it also walls Goyf and swings with a vengeance. Just beware of removal in response to Monstrosity.
Ulvenwald Tracker: Grab another guy and smash it into your opponent’s probably smaller men! This guy gets better the bigger your creatures are, can off mana dorks by himself, and can suicide to kill Bob, Grim Lavamancer, Pestermite, or Viscera Seer in a pinch.
Silent Arbiter: Sick and tired of Exarch Twin’s infinite men? Need to patch up a weakness to tokens further? Finally, a hate bear that doesn’t die to Flame Slash!
Windborn Muse: Forcing opponents to pay mana for each attacking creature can make them not attack you at all. Being able to block fliers and evasively swing for the win helps.
Graveyard Hate
Scavenging Ooze: Most graveyards in Modern don’t suddenly fill up in one turn. Scavenging Ooze eliminates our opponents’ slowly filling graveyards pretty well, and it gains life and turns into a fearsome beater to boot.
Loaming Shaman: It’s called hosing entire graveyards. With Chord of Calling, you can do that at instant speed. What’s not to like?
Withered Wretch: We wished this guy were Scavenging Ooze. Wishes granted.
Dryad Militant: Biggest 1-drop hate bear ever? Yup! Keeps instants and sorceries from falling into graveyards? Yup! She’s a bit tricky to Pod into, but she’s very cheap to Chord for.
Land Destruction
Fulminator Mage: Do you hate Tron? Is that Creeping Tar Pit clocking you faster than you think you’ll be able to get out the combo? Do you just want to keep Teachings off of 4 mana? Get this guy and you won’t be disappointed.
Avalanche Riders: Lucky enough to splash red? Then you can play a land-blasting dude who can blow up basics and not have to die in order to blow up lands!
Voice of Resurgence: Hoses counterspells, end-of-turn shenanigans, and removal on your turn worse than Grand Abolisher, but the body it leaves behind when it dies can be pretty impressive. ...So it's also anti-Edicts.
Grand Abolisher: Hoses counterspells, end-of-turn shenanigans, removal on your turn, and more.
Vexing Shusher: This deck doesn’t need him so much—Birthing Pod gets around so many counterspells—but he could find a spot anyway.
Anti-Sacrifice
Sigarda, Host of Herons: Liliana of the Veil has now made you sacrifice creatures for the last time. Fogging Emrakul also helps. Being big, evasive, and Hexproof are probably the reasons you play her, though.
Tajuru Preserver: Keep facing off against Death Cloud? Does Living End always find you with zero sac outlets? Is someone swinging with Emrakul? This guy can find a way into your 75.
Tapping Trump
Yosei, the Morning Star: He fills the crucial role of being often the only 6-drop in the deck. Pod him for a Protean Hulk and your opponent should not be able to aim removal at the game-winning creature.
Big Men
Tarmogoyf: At 2 mana, it’s the cheapest of big, dumb men. If you like Pod midrange decks, it’s not a bad choice.
Baneslayer Angel: We should do well enough against control, anyway (they need to remove every single combo piece, then they die to Reveillark and Ranger of Eos), but sometimes you really, really need the extra life and a win-con against red-based decks.
Thrun, the Last Troll: Are you up against a deck with a metric ton of spot removal, and do their attackers also look scary? Try Thrun on for size! He’s an absolute thorn to many decks, anyway.
Wurmcoil Engine: Stuck 3 Obstinate Baloths in your sideboard and still have problems with Jund? Try this guy! If Liliana of the Veil wants a sacrifice, sac it and make tiny Wurms. If Birthing Pod wants a sacrifice, same deal.
Grave Titan: Need to break board stalls in style? Get this 6-drop!
Other Fun Stuff Blasting Station: This is a spare sacrifice outlet that combos with Kitchen Finks (and not just Murderous Redcap) for infinite damage. You can also throw mana dorks to it to kill X/1’s, and if you time playing creatures right, you can kill bigger stuff and burn heads for significant amounts. Just be aware that you cannot search for it with any of your tutors.
Chalice of the Void: If you never want to lose to Burn or Delver again, this is a restrictive but decent sideboard option.
Enchantments
Disruption Choke: Keep facing blue-based decks? Now you can keep Gifts from resolving a second board wipe and turn Creeping Tar Pit into a joke, all in one handy-dandy little card!
Stony Silence: Truly desperate to shut up RG Tron? Also want an edge against Affinity? Try this and forget about using Birthing Pod!
Memoricide: Not splashing red? Still need something that turns combo decks into bad fair decks? Try Memoricide and be prepared to see it get countered a few times.
Cranial Extraction: See Memoricide—they’re virtually functional reprints of each other!
Stain the Mind: Like your odds of getting 3 creatures and 2 lands by Turn 3 better than your odds of getting 1 mana dork and 3 lands? Try this instead of Memoricide!
Creature Removal Path to Exile: We’re in white. This boots every single problematic creature we can think of and plenty that aren’t. Why not?
Dismember: Sick of giving your opponent extra lands? Can’t find enough white mana for Path to Exile? Why not play this? We’re in black, anyway, so if we don’t feel like paying life, we can just pay more mana.
Slaughter Pact: Want free removal (well, free on the turn you cast it)? Want creature-based combo decks to think they’re safe when you tap out, then get kicked down by surprise? Not afraid of Bob or Olivia Voldaren? Try this!
Murderous Cut: Sick of paying life? Sick of giving opponents lands? Sick of not being able to boot Anafenza, Bob, or Siege Rhino? Willing to wait a little for your removal to become live? Try this!
Abzan Charm: OK, it’s selective creature removal (it boots Linvala and most Scavenging Oozes, but not Pestermite or Grim Lavamancer), but it also draws cards, saves dudes from red removal, and protects the Archangel Spike combo!
Other Permanent Hate Maelstrom Pulse: It only gets rid of everything...that isn’t a land. If lands are that problematic, play Fulminator Mage.
Putrefy: Prefer your versatile hate at instant speed? Putrefy is an option.
Abrupt Decay: Want your versatile hate to be uncounterable? Pick this card! Unfortunately, it won’t hit Linvala, but that’s the cost of raising your Exarch Twin match-up.
Creeping Corrosion: Kicking Affinity’s butt is fun. Yes, you lose Birthing Pod and artifact creatures, but Pod would have just searched for slower ways to kick out Affinity’s stuff, anyway.
Fracturing Gust: For those who want their artifact sweeper to also kick enchantments’ and Bogles’s butts and gain life.
Creatures/Tutoring Chord of Calling: We’ve usually got creatures to spare, and an instant-speed tutor that we can cheat mana on cannot be denied.
Lingering Souls: Anticipate that the game will go long? Think you’ll need to stick a lot of bodies to succeed? This is a pretty good way to grind opponents out.
Verdant Catacombs, Windswept Heath, Marsh Flats: Fetchlands get you your shocklands, but they cost life. If you’re facing nonbasic land hate, they can also get you basic lands.
Twilight Mire, Wooded Bastion, Fetid Heath: They fix your mana without making you lose life. You need a steady stream of coloured mana for them to be useful, though.
Razorverge Thicket: Finally, a dual land that enters the battlefield untapped during that crucial first turn without costing life in any way! ...It sucks considerably more if it’s your fourth land drop or later, though, but those first few turns are pretty important!
Woodland Cemetery: Love lands that produce both green and black mana? Think you’ll reliably get Forests or Swamps out? Love this land!
Horizon Canopy: Sometimes, you just want to pay 1 mana and sacrifice a land to draw a card. This card also fixes your mana while you wait for that desperate moment.
Gemstone Caverns: It’s a solution to the “Body Double stuck in hand” problem...if you're not going first. I suppose a speed boost is always good, though.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: Want to make scads and scads of mana mid- to late-game, often green but sometimes black or white? Try this card!
Utility Ghost Quarter: Let me guess—manlands are getting at you, and Tron is ramping in your face. This card can help, but the colourless mana production can take this off the list of lands to consider.
Tectonic Edge: See above, except it doesn’t give your opponent a land, but it’s somewhat slower to get active.
Dryad Arbor: If you need to Pod into Viscera Seer, this is the 0 cmc creature for you. Remember, fetchlands can get this card.
Gavony Township: It can refresh your Persist dudes if you already had to throw them in front of creatures or they ate removal. Turning your Birds of Paradise into actual threats is also funny.
Banned Olden Goldies
Green Sun’s Zenith: It’d be even better now with Varolz, the Scar-Striped released. It was pretty good and fast at searching for green creatures, whether they be combo pieces or hate, and it was the best Llanowar Elves ever when it searched for Dryad Arbor. Shame Zoo and Elves liked it too much.
Deathrite Shaman: It’s arguably the best mana dork in the game. It makes decks splash both green and black just for it in Legacy and Vintage. It virtually swings for an unblockable 2 power for quite a few turns, gains life, and hates on graveyards. For doing all that for 1 mana, it got banned.
Great, now you want Melira Pod, Angel Pod, and Junk/Abzan Pod decklists. All right, here they are:
You’re still not satisfied? You want to know how well the Pod variants do against the field? Well, read this:
Match-ups
Affinity Tested: Post-Theros, pre-Born of the Gods Pre-board: Even (~50% win rate) (10 wins – 10 losses in playtest)
Give Affinity a decent hand and it will roll you. See Affinity mulligan to 5 cards in hand or less and you will be substantially more likely to win. Pray Affinity can’t mulligan into a decent hand to save its life—it does that surprisingly often.
For your first few turns, aim to survive. Prioritize hitting their most powerful cards (Cranial Plating, Master of Etherium, Steel Overseer, Signal Pest) with your removal, but be prepared to sometimes hit some shifty stuff like Vault Skirge. Be prepared to make your Birds of Paradise block. You’d be surprised how often they fold to your larger swarm beats after your remove their first few guys—that’s consolation for the fact that you won’t often have time to combo off against them.
Beware of Galvanic Blast if you attempt to combo off or extract Persist value out of Melira. Just be thankful that she stops Inkmoth Nexus dead.
Hey ! I spent the whole night playing hardcore against the Burn list that made top8 at the GP Madrid Trial : Cruise Burn. That list has been surprisingly very good against Angel Pod, Treasure Cruise is tough to beat !
Post-SB, it seems Eidolon of the Great Revel isn't... great as its parallel effect helps us racing.
Against other lists, I noticed Flames of the Blood Hand was good, Rakdos Charm was good, Vexing Devil was bad, Molten Rain was bad or situationnally good. Overall I had a lot of trouble winning matches against that specific list, as I didn't allow any misplay from the Burn side.
Here's my thing, on 30 matches, where some of them were 2-0, that's why the post-SB games stop at 30 games :
Cruise Burn
Tested: Angel Pod, Post Khans of Tarkir - Nov 2014 - 20 matches.
Pre-board: Slightly favorable (12 wins - 8 losses)
Post-board: Even (15 wins - 15 losses)
With 6-8 lifegain cards in the maindeck, we can safely hope for a decent opening hand and/or good draws. we cannot do anything against an opposing goldfish unfortunately. Treasure Cruise is a strong addition to the deck as it allows Burn to set up pressure past turn 6.
Keep in mind game 1:
- Avoid opening hands with 3+ fetchlands / shocklands,
- Shock yourself the least possible and search for basics or let lands enter the battlefield tapped,
- Play around Skullcrack in all circumstances,
- Abrupt Decay your own Kitchen Finks if necessary,
- Don't hesitate to chumpblock if you have a Scavenging Ooze waiting for food,
- Avoid Birthing Pod turn 2-3, it's not worth the lifeloss.
This match-up is so blazing fast that Birthing Pod and Chord of Calling actually start being a little slow. Use them wisely and creatively in Game 1 and be prepared to board some of them out.
Especially if they play Deathrite Shaman, this match-up is surprisingly tough. You can stick 2 Kitchen Finks in a single game and still lose, and not just to well-timed Skullcracks. They’ll slam Bolt after Bolt in your face (and at your poor Deathrite Shamans), and this deck’s aggro game is often not fast enough to race it.
You generally can’t combo off fast enough—you’re better off trading Melira with their Goblin Guide and recovering her or getting another later. Board combo pieces out afterwards.
If you can avoid playing shocklands untapped without absolutely wrecking your own tempo, always, always do it. You need to conserve as much of your life total as possible.
This is another blazing fast match-up. Birthing Pod and Chord of Calling also start being a little slow here. Again, use them wisely and creatively in Game 1 and be prepared to board some of them out.
You’ll probably notice one thing in common between all the games you win—you traded off a ton of Kitchen Finks and/or Voice of Resurgence in them. Don’t be afraid to chump with Voice, and don’t be afraid to trade off just about everything in your deck with their guys, including Melira (except for Cartel Aristocrat, Varolz, the Scar-Striped, maybe Scavenging Ooze, and maybe Deathrite Shaman).
Early Ghor-Clan Rampager Bloodrushes tend to swing games and make them keep guys they would otherwise have traded away. Instant-speed removal like Abrupt Decay can turn those into blowouts in your favour, but you won’t always have the removal, even post-board (especially since they’ll start to Bloodrush only when you’re tapped out).
And yeah, if they play at least two Burning-Tree Emissarys on their Turn 2, be prepared to punt anyway later in that game. Their nuts hands are really hard to contain.
Exarch Twin Tested: Post-Magic 2013, pre-Return to Ravnica Pre-board: Unfavourable (~30% win rate) (6 wins – 14 losses in playtest)
This is a tough one. Melira Pod generally cannot win fast enough with beats or the combo, so it has to slow Exarch Twin down with hate bears. Linvala is the most effective one, as she cuts off Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Splinter Twin (it grants creatures activated abilities), Spellskite, and Grim Lavamancer, but she is fairly slow to get out. Spellskite is the second most effective, as it hoses Splinter Twin and Grim Lavamancer, but it will not keep Kiki-Jiki from working his magic or opposing Spellskites from protecting him. Qasali Pridemage is not bad, as it hoses Splinter Twin and kills Spellskite, Gaddock Teeg at least hoses Splinter Twin, and Thalia can sometimes slow Exarch Twin down long enough for you to win.
However, the reality is that all those hate bears die to Flame Slash, and most of them die at instant speed to Grim Lavamancer or Electrostatic Bolt. The latter two can also effectively keep you from comboing off yourself. You need a critical mass of hate bears to guarantee a win, and even then, they can just off your most important one and combo off. The most embarrassing situation is when you swing with hate bears and they die to flashed-in spare Deceiver Exarchs or Pestermites.
Tutoring for your hate bears should be your first priority, but be prepared for Chord of Calling eating Dispel, Birthing Pod being Remanded all day, and both being hit by the occasional Spell Pierce.
Jund Tested: Post-Magic 2013, pre-Return to Ravnica Pre-board: Favourable (~60-70% win rate) (14 wins – 6 losses in playtest)
Melira Pod is built to be resilient to spot removal, and it shows in this match-up. Despite Jund’s 9 spot removal spells (4 Lightning Bolt, 3 Maelstrom Pulse, 2 Terminate) and 3 Liliana of the Veils, you’d be surprised how often you win by comboing off. Jund Charm is fairly problematic, though, and you should expect to lose more often if you come up against this card.
This is a match-up of card advantage. Overload them with recursive creatures and Gavony Township shenanigans and you should win. Their Bob is quite possibly the most valuable creature in the deck against you. Grim Lavamancer is very good, too, if they play it. Removing those guys should be your first priority over removing other creatures in this match-up.
Remember that you can royally screw over Liliana of the Veil if she -1’s immediately by sacrificing Murderous Redcap to her and pinging her after it Persists. Also remember every way you can abuse Birthing Pod with your build of the deck.
RG Artifact Tron/Karn Tron/RG Tron Tested: Post-Magic 2013, pre-Return to Ravnica Pre-board: Heavily unfavourable (~20% win rate) (4 wins - 16 losses in playtest)
This is a pretty ugly match-up. RG Artifact Tron runs around 16 outs to the Melira Combo (4 Pyroclasm, 4 Relic of Progenitus, 4 Karn Liberated, 2 Oblivion Stone, 1 Emrakul, 1 Ulamog), so you can’t count on comboing out to win. Even if you gain infinite life with Kitchen Finks, RG Artifact Tron can still stop you from pulling out Murderous Redcap profitably, stick an Eldrazi to continuously wipe your board, and then it can win by decking you out and discarding Eldrazi to ensure its library is bigger than yours, or it can restart the game with Karn, reduce you to 20 life, and still have an Eldrazi thanks to Karn. (Needless to say, RG Artifact Tron wins that game.)
You need to become hard beatdown to win. You won’t often be fast enough. Delay them for as long as possible with LD bears, Aven Mindcensor, and Thalia. Chord of Calling in Phyrexian Metamorph, Nekrataal, or Shriekmaw to kill Emrakul. Blow up Wurmcoil Engine, exposed Expedition Maps, and Relic of Progenitus with artifact-killing hate bears. Foil Karn with well-timed Restoration Angels or well-placed Spellskites. Nullify Pyroclasm with Burrenton Forge-Tender or Dauntless Escort. It won’t be easy, but you might be able to steal a few games against RG Artifact Tron. (Don’t be afraid to Pod away Melira in this match-up.)
UW Restoration Tempo Tested: Post-Magic 2013, pre-Return to Ravnica Pre-board: Even (~50% win rate) (10 wins – 10 losses in playtest)
For a deck with only 4-6 removal spells (4 Path to Exile, 0-2 Dismember), UW Restoration Tempo is pretty decent against you. It’s probably the 2-for-1s like Snapcaster Mage, Augur of Bolas, and Restoration Angel that do it. By the time they show up, they’ve already done at least half their job. Then their flying beaters kill you.
Birthing Pod gets around so many counterspells that it isn’t funny. It will win games for you against this deck. Sadly, it’s pretty prone to getting countered itself. Chord of Calling suffers similar problems against this deck, and pushes your tempo back to boot.
Lure their counterspells with everything that costs 3 or more mana and you may coast your way to victory. Turning your mana dorks into an army with the uncounterable Gavony Township is also pretty good against them.
UWR Wafo-Tapa Control Tested: Post-Magic 2014, pre-Theros Pre-board: Favourable (~60% win rate) (12 wins – 8 losses in playtest)
Playtest figures may be deceiving. This match-up is pretty rough and stressful—for both parties, actually. A single mistake can lead to a loss, no matter who makes it.
Prioritize sticking recursive guys like Reveillark, card advantage-making guys like Ranger of Eos, and disruptive guys like Thalia in this match-up. UWR Wafo-Tapa Control has oodles of removal spells, so you probably won’t win with the combo, but stick those guys and they just might die to beats. (Of course, don’t overextend unless you’re sticking only recursive/CA guys.)
Birthing Pod is pretty good in this match-up—turning all your 1-drops into 2-drop hate bears is pretty sick, and they die to goodstuffs Pod chains like Voice of Resurgence-Kitchen Finks-Ranger-Lark. Pod does look fairly silly when you run out of creatures, though.
It’s tough playing your important stuff around Mana Leak—their Cryptic Command back-up is brutal. Speaking of Cryptic, always play around it by attacking, then casting spells. Even if they have Celestial Colonnade up, you’d be surprised how often they don’t block with it. If they do, slam down an important guy while they’re mostly tapped out.
In Game 1, you can lure counterspells by casting Chord of Calling at their end of turn, then casting something important on your turn. However, Chord is an expensive tutor for recursive/CA creatures in this match-up, so board it out for more threats.
If you’re really paranoid, you can try luring Spell Snare by casting other 2-drops first, then casting Voice. This may backfire, though, if they Leak your Voice.
MVPs: Reveillark, Eternal Witness, Voice of Resurgence, Ranger of Eos, Kitchen Finks, Tidehollow Sculler, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Gaddock Teeg LVPs: Harmonic Sliver, Orzhov Pontiff, Aven Mindcensor
Remember, this deck may be good, but it can only get better and better! If you want to add stuff, give a shout in this thread and I’ll add it!
@DOL Yay we're stickied! Also, the birds have been really good to me. Going T1 Birds, T2 Melira, Suspend sets me up for turn 3 win with Redcap. I may try some other stuff but I can't seem to think of anything sick to throw in... Dispel? Spell Pierce?
I updated the OP based on Lectry's post as well as the article that she shared. I also tweaked my mana base a bit and added more to my sideboard. I hope to get some real testing in this weekend.
@ Lectry: I would not run BBE if I were running GSZ or Summoner's Pact. Not saying that I dont like BBE, just that I dont like bad synergy.
@ jp_ftw: I totally spaced Gargadon in your list. Seems like it fits good. Keep us posted on your results.
I've tried out this list and so far I like it. The only problem i see with the deck is not being able to use Green Sun's Zenith for a win condition. All you can do is get infinite life with the finks or fetch of Melira.
I've tried out this list and so far I like it. The only problem i see with the deck is not being able to use Green Sun's Zenith for a win condition. All you can do is get infinite life with the finks or fetch of Melira.
So? It grabs everything but a sacrifice outlet. Isn't that good enough?
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Why is infinite life not good? Thats amazing?? Just because it doesn't win you, doesn't mean people won't scoop to it. The other factor is, there are a lot of good green creatures that do things when they enter the battlefield and some have persist. You are Black/Red/Green though so finding a diabolic tutor or a beseech the queen to tutor your sac outlets seems good. Another good non-creature artifact that is a good sac outlet is Throne of Geth it can give a really good engine for proliferating if you find something that enters the battlefield and untaps it.
GSZ can grab everything to get that infinite life. Scarland Thrinax is green, and a sac outlet, and it gets +1/+1 counters giving it more usefulness in non-combo situations. Even if you are gaining infinite life with Finks, its not like you cant win with Blasting Station or either creature outlet that pumps.
Throne of Geth is not a good sac outlet, because a: you can only sac artifacts to it, and b: it taps to use its sac ability, which means you would normally only be able to use it once a turn.
EDIT: also tweaked my decklist once I realized I was running 13 sac outlets and only 8 persist creatures. I dropped a 1x Viscera Seer and Bloodthrone Vampire for 2x Safehold Elite. This will also give me an out in situations where I need to GSZ for a persist critter and only have 3 mana to work with.
I have the project x combo in the deck as well. I generally use the Melira combo as it's more convenient to assemble. But having a backup seems sweet to me.
I'd consider cutting the project x combo down to 1 piece each if they weren't so synergistic to the rest of the deck. Not only can they combo with them selves but they work really well with the other combo as well.
Saffi Eriksdotter can protect Melira and be used to reset Finks or Redcap it they already have -1/-1 counter on them as well as protecting either Seer or Flesheater.
Crypt Champion can recur any combo piece other than redcap or flesh-eater
In my deck I run enough creature to run Chord of Calling to great effectiveness. I like the instant speed creature tutor that can be played for a discount if I have enough creatures in play.
And IMO Birthing Pod needs to be in the deck. It's just too good in the deck and it works fantastic with Finks.
I'm still tweaking the deck but this is where I'm at right now.
...which is why Birds of Paradise are in both my decklists. Seriously, getting access to red mana in the Junk version is unreal. Now, I can actually Glittering Wish for two out of three combo pieces, and the maindeck Scarland Thrinax isn't a dead card in hand!
One plan for beating counterspells is Aether Vial (or Bloodbraid Elf, the worst tutor for the deck ever). Another plan is Vexing Shusher in the sideboard. Yet another plan is more maindeck discard.
lol, all of us are just so used to saying he. Maybe you should put something girly in your sig:)
A jund colored build seems like the best way to abuse GSZ because it can find all of the parts. Glittering wish is cool and all, but not really worth the white unless I'm missing the tech.
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playing around with this on Cockatrice. Man.. i got handled.
From my experience . if you can't play a duress or Thoughtseize turn 1, mulligan
the attack for a ton idea is way too slow. you will find your self 1 turn dead a lot.
i feel birds or something are necessary as I found my mana under attack a fair amount.
Also, what is the plan for beating the plethora of blue magic in this format?
Yea, I find a turn 1 Duress or Thoughtseize is the best way to start with this deck. I am tempted to either fit in Aether Vial or mana birds into the main deck as well. Either would probably speed things up and (as mentioned) Vial is a great way to get around counter magic.
Ok so further testing have proven the deck to be good especially against slow decks. The only two things i found to be bad were getting graveyard hate and blood moon.
I played deck and game 2 and 3 he played blood moon. If you can't win then you're pretty screwed. It stops you from playing everything except for Murderous Redcap
@ Shinny Shinny.
Thats actually a pretty solid idea.
What do you think of this situation.
melira + Sac outlet + persist guy in play
Order of play
P1 sac persist guy
Persist hits the stack
Sac trigger hits the stack ( guy is still in graveyard )
P2 kills melira, she dies before the persist guy comes back into play, thus negating her ability.
the persist guy would come back, but with a -1-1 counter. It seems that our combo is pretty weak to spot removal like any other creature based combo.
What do we do to ensure shes not gibbed? Run lightning greaves?
Turn 1 Windswept Heath into Temple Garden into Birds of Paradise, Turn 2 Forest into Birthing Pod is one of the most infamous starts of Modern. It quickly leads into tutoring for the creatures that annoy your opponent the most, followed by resilient, big beats. Your opponent tapped out or went Hellbent without hate permanents? Quickly tutor for the remaining infinite combo pieces and kill them without warning...if you bothered to stick a combo in your deck. Your opponent is deathly afraid of the combo and is holding up mana and a bluff card all the time? Tutor for resilient, big beats instead and punish them for sandbagging removal. Your opponent threatens to OHKO you before you can take them down to 0 life? Tutor for the hate bears that your opponent least wants to see. Your opponent may get so annoyed by Birthing Pod that s/he boards in cards that specifically answer only it.
Forgot all your Birthing Pods and Chord of Callings in the middle of your library? Are that opposing Aven Mindcensor and Leonin Arbiter making you rip your hair out? A bunch of Voice of Resurgences, Kitchen Finks, and perhaps Siege Rhinos are a decent beatdown plan that buys plenty of time against aggressive opponents by gaining life.
Melira Pod was around during some of Modern's oldest times, back when Cloudpost was still legal and 12-Post was a premier deck. Angel Pod was born relatively recently with Magic 2014's release, and No Combo Junk/Abzan Pod started being prominent with Khans of Tarkir's release.
Doesn’t Melira Pod just fold to Meddling Mage naming Melira?
No, it doesn’t. Just because we can’t play Melira doesn’t mean we can’t pop her out with Birthing Pod or a dead Protean Hulk. Besides, we can play a good enough aggro game to force the Mage to block our Finks eventually.
How about Pithing Needle naming Viscera Seer?
We’ve got artifact hate out the wazoo. Qasali Pridemage, Harmonic Sliver, Acidic Slime, you name it. Artifacts like that are no problems for us.
How about Scavenging Ooze naming Persist, Eternal Witness, and Reveillark?
Imagine Deathrite Shaman’s really big brother that Murderous Redcap usually can’t kill. That’s Scavenging Ooze. It’s a prick against us—it stops our combo and recursion plans, walls us to heck, then swings like a massive Goyf.
Luckily, unlike Deathrite, Ooze dies to Shriekmaw and Nekrataal. It also dies to creature removal that we can pack in our 75 such as Abrupt Decay and Dismember. Heck, it gets hosed by Linvala, Keeper of Silence. Kick it out and we’ll probably win eventually...
I hear some builds run Body Double and no blue mana land sources.
Body Double, although it is essential to the Protean Hulk kill, is not always needed for this deck to win. Sometimes, this deck just...you know...combos out. Besides, if all else fails, Birds of Paradise is in your deck, isn’t it?
I’ve got the perfect hate card for you—Grafdigger’s Cage. How do you like that?
We don’t like that card at all. Now, we can’t search for our answers to hate so efficiently. One way to fight that card is to pack Qasali Pridemage, Harmonic Sliver, Abrupt Decay, Maelstrom Pulse, or other Naturalize effects in our 75. There we go—we should be able to pick that card off in a timely fashion...
Why shouldn’t I play Twin Pod instead?
If you’re in a meta full of RG Tron and red board wipes, you’re right—why don’t you play Twin Pod instead? It’s got better match-ups against those decks because of its swifter combo and fatter creatures, and you can read more about it here!
But, if you’re in a meta full of combo decks, Infect, graveyard-abusing decks, and Wraths, you should play Melira Pod because it has better match-ups than Twin Pod against those decks. Our targeted discard doesn’t suck up as much tempo as Twin Pod’s counterspells against combo, Melira hoses Infect (while they may be stuck boarding in Melira), and we play more creatures that survive, make guys after, or come back after a Wrath than Twin Pod does.
...Alternately, you can play both decks, like I do. Each Pod deck has its own different flavour. Even if you’ve found which one you like best, that doesn’t stop you from enjoying both decks.
I hear Twin Pod can assemble their entire combo from a Kitchen Finks and a Birthing Pod. How can you do the same?
Yup, we can do the same, too. Pod Finks into Ranger of Eos and search for two Viscera Seers. Play both Seers and Pod one of them into Melira. Pod Finks again, this time into Murderous Redcap. Win. It takes 3 turns, yes, but I bet those Twin Pod guys take almost as long to get their combo out from the same stuff.
I think that should be good now. What? You want to know why we picked the stuff we did? Here’s a card-by-card guide to everything in Melira Pod and Archangel Spike Pod:
You want in on Junk/Abzan-coloured Pod action now, but you don't know how to start building your Pod deck? Here are the Pod card choices:
Creatures
Melira, Sylvok Outcast: Making your opponents’ creatures lose Infect isn’t the reason you play her—the absolutely sick interaction with Persist dudes is. Grab her, a Persist dude, and a sac outlet, and you’ll either win the game or make it that much harder to lose.
Master Biomancer: Not only is this another Melira, it makes your upcoming guys significantly fatter—your late-game mana dorks are now threats! Splashing blue can be ugly, though.
Infinite Sacrifice Outlets
Viscera Seer: He’s 1 cmc. He’s a creature. You can Pod into him by sacrificing a Dryad Arbor. You can find him with Ranger of Eos. He’s the only sac outlet you’ll really need...besides Birthing Pod.
Ranger of Eos: He's only found in Pod decks with Viscera Seers in them, but he's awesome at finding Seers.
Cartel Aristocrat: If you want another sac outlet, she isn’t a bad option. She’s Grizzly Bears-sized on her own, she survives Pyroclasm when your other men don’t, and when you’re stuck chump blocking, she’s a thorn who keeps blocking.
Varolz, the Scar-Striped: If you’re in the market for a third sac outlet, Varolz definitely delivers. Not only does he survive Pyroclasm and Supreme Verdict, but he also refreshes Persist and pumps your other men with his omni-Scavenge ability!
Bloodthrone Vampire: Prefer sac outlets that can get infinitely large? Try this guy...as long as you like 2-mana 1/1’s!
The Only Reasons You’re Playing Archangel Spike Pod
Archangel of Thune: Not only does it combo with an infinite sac outlet and Kitchen Finks for infinite life and power, it also combos with Spike Feeder for infinite life and power! It can also grow your army pretty fast when combined with Scavenging Ooze with dead creatures or Courser of Kruphix with fetchlands.
Persist Dudes
Murderous Redcap: Want to close out the game with your Persist dude? Grab this guy, and he’ll not only deal infinite damage to your opponent, he’ll also kill Platinum Angel for you. Additionally, he’s removal in a pinch.
Recursion/Resilience
Eternal Witness: Returning target anything from your graveyard to your hand sounds pretty nice.
Entomber Exarch: It’s a bigger spare Eternal Witness that only gets creatures or a guy that forces your opponent to discard noncreature cards...a bit late. Well, I guess it’s a spare Eternal Witness that only gets creatures.
Body Double: It’s an essential piece of the Protean Hulk insta-win combo. It also doubles as a final dead combo piece in a pinch.
Sun Titan: Stick this guy and you’ll probably win the game. You can raise Viscera Seer, Melira, and Kitchen Finks endlessly, not to mention all the other fun creatures you can get maximal value from.
Sheoldred, Whispering One: Again, stick her and you’ll probably win, this time with endless Murderous Redcaps and Acidic Slimes in addition to the creatures that Sun Titan can get. Her plus Yosei, the Morning Star and a sac outlet is just brutal.
Havengul Lich: If you can spare the blue mana, being able to pull out every combo piece in your graveyard and every single hate bear has to be pretty good. Stealing your opponent’s creatures is also pretty funny. Shame reviving guys is so expensive, though.
Hex Parasite: It can’t play the role of Melira—it costs too much to take counters off guys—but it makes turning Kitchen Finks into the entire combo much easier. Pod Finks into Ranger of Eos, search for a Viscera Seer and this guy, then play this guy and take the counter off of Finks. Pod this guy into Melira and play the Seer and you’re done.
Athreos, God of Passage: Opponents either keep losing life or you start recurring creatures—which tends to be game over for them when you have Birthing Pod out or those guys have Persist, ETB abilities, or LTB abilities. He’s fairly easily outraced, though.
Timely Hordemate: Think you can attack often? Then get a guy who revives a creature with converted mana cost 2 or less from the dead!
Mana Dorks
Noble Hierarch: Need more mana dorks? This guy is the second best at fixing your mana for you. Exalted also helps if you turn into the beatdown.
Avacyn’s Pilgrim: It’s a white mana-producing mana dork with power greater than 0. It could help.
Wall of Roots: It’s the ultimate mana dork—it doesn’t need to tap to produce mana, and it blocks creatures like a king while it does so! It can also count as 2 mana for Chord of Calling, so you can cheat in some unexpectedly large creatures while doing so.
Llanowar Elves: It’s a mana dork with power greater than 0. It could be useful.
Boreal Druid: It’s yet another mana dork with power greater than 0. It could help.
Wood Elves: I guess if you need lands that badly...
Devoted Druid: No, it does not produce infinite mana with Melira out—since you can’t put -1/-1 counters on your creatures, you can’t pay to untap it. However, it is a 2 cmc mana dork that can potentially produce 2 mana in a turn.
Card Draw/Tutoring
Fauna Shaman: Need answers fast? This girl is a nice creature tutor.
Dark Confidant: Bob likes drawing cards, and we like drawing combo pieces, but flipping Reveillark, Body Double, Sun Titan, or Protean Hulk hurts...
Protean Hulk: Thump this guy down with a way to kill it and you should win on the spot. Kill it with Birthing Pod, for instance, and fetch Body Double (copying Protean Hulk) and Viscera Seer. Sacrifice the Double Hulk to the Seer and fetch Melira and Murderous Redcap. Good game.
Dimir House Guard: When 4 Birthing Pods aren’t enough, this guy is practically a fifth (a 4 cmc Transmute is handy). He’s also a sac outlet in a pinch.
Elvish Visionary: Hey, it cantrips and it can attack.
Protection
Spellskite: Does removal keep getting aimed at Melira? Stop those shenanigans with this life-eating magnetic wall! Also stop those shenanigans involving Splinter Twin, other Auras, and pump spells with this metallic creature!
Burrenton Forge-Tender: Are Pyroclasm and Firespout getting to you? Only toss one guy in the way instead of everyone with this small but important Kithkin!
Saffi Eriksdotter: Do board sweepers keep eliminating all your creatures? Preserve a combo piece with this self-sacrificing lamb!
Loxodon Hierarch: Can’t decide between gaining scads of life and keeping all your guys alive in the face of board wipes? Try this guy!
Dauntless Escort: Are board sweepers really getting at you? Try this guy on for size! He’ll protect every single combo piece you’ve got.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed: Besides being the most expensive Dauntless Escort in the world (try Chord of Calling him in response to a board wipe), he’s also another Melira, helps out with the beatdown plan, and lets you recur guys like Fulminator Mage a sick number of times!
Hate/Disruption/Removal
Ethersworn Canonist: Take Eidolon of Rhetoric. Make it easier to find on Turn 3 (requires Turn 1 mana dork, Turn 2 Pod only). Make it have 2 power instead of 1. Make it die to Lightning Bolt, Pyroclasm, Anger of the Gods, Shatterstorm, Ingot Chewer, Drown in Sorrow, and more. Not so attractive now, is it? ...Unless you’re against Ascendancy Storm and they’re threatening to combo off before your Turn 3.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben: We run like, what, 12 noncreature spells max? She’ll tax the dickens out of them! Yes, she hampers Chord of Calling, Birthing Pod, and our discard and removal, but not as badly as Teeg.
Gaddock Teeg: Does Wrath of God stump all your plans? Is UR Storm trying to resolve Past in Flames? Do Engineered Explosives blow up everything you land? Recruit the best Kithkin ever and you’ll never be foiled again! Shame you can’t resolve Chord of Calling and Birthing Pod with him out, but them’s the breaks.
Draw Throttlers
Targeted Discard
Tidehollow Sculler: Want Castigate on legs? Get this guy on your side! It’ll do the job for as long as it’s necessary.
Anti-Affinity
Permanent Removal
Mangara of Corondor: Boot target permanent? Yes, please. Wait one turn to do that? Not so great. At least he doesn’t require mana to activate.
Necrotic Sliver: Destroying target permanent is very fun. Needing 3 mana to do so is not so fun. At least you can pop it the same turn you get it.
Artifact/Enchantment Removal
Reclamation Sage: Got more Pithing Needle problems? Is Pyromancer Ascension getting too big for its britches? Eliminate more of those pesky artifact and enchantment problems with this Elf!
Harmonic Sliver: Think you can copy your Damping Matrix destruction with Phyrexian Metamorph often enough? (Yeah, probably not.) Try this!
Land Destruction, Graveyard Hate, Angel Combo Protection, Etc.
Clones
Phantasmal Image: Are you lucky enough to have access to blue mana? Then you’re lucky enough to have a much cheaper Clone! Copying Persist guys is pretty fun, as it’s bound to come back if it gets targeted.
Life Gain
Obstinate Baloth: When four life gain critters aren’t enough, add a fifth larger one to your crew. Against Jund, it’s also not as dead in your opening hand.
Kor Firewalker: Sick and tired of RDW? Want your hate bear to also do something against UR Storm? Try this guy!
Tree of Redemption: So you say that, despite the fact you run 4 Kitchen Finks and at least one Obstinate Baloth in the sideboard, that you still have trouble against aggro. Well, if you do, exchange your life total with this 4-drop’s decent toughness and you just might be able to stall them out for at least another turn.
Spot Creature Removal
Nekrataal: It costs 1 mana less than Shriekmaw and takes care of much the same stuff, especially when Podded out.
Skinrender: Are you sick of Shriekmaw and Nekrataal not hitting Bob or Tidehollow Sculler? Try this guy and you won’t be disappointed! It still hits problematic guys like Grim Lavamancer and Pestermite, but it’s a shame it won’t hit Linvala.
Big Game Hunter: Sick of big Scavenging Oozes? Sick of Olivia Voldaren? Sick of Phyrexian Obliterator? Sick of Anafenza, the Foremost? Not sick of Linvala? Try him!
Archon of Justice: If you’ve got a Birthing Pod, a 6-drop, and a large, problematic creature on the other side of the field, this could be the guy for you.
Board Wipes
Polukranos, World Eater: Want some flexibility between killing multiple X/1’s, X/2’s like Leonin Arbiter, and the occasional X/3? This guy not only kills those weenies, it also walls Goyf and swings with a vengeance. Just beware of removal in response to Monstrosity.
Cloudthresher: Sick and tired of Delver of Secrets, Vendilion Clique, Squadron Hawk, and Spellstutter Sprite? Want more ways to screw token decks before they fly over your blockers? Try this guy for size! You can also Evoke it early as a selective, instant-speed Plague Wind if you get it in your hand early.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: Are Zoo’s men getting too big? Are Spellstutter Sprite, Vendilion Clique, and Snapcaster Mage spoiling all your fun? Is Exarch Twin trying to stick a man with 2 or less toughness or 2 or less power? Ruin all those decks and more with Elesh Norn!
Ulvenwald Tracker: Grab another guy and smash it into your opponent’s probably smaller men! This guy gets better the bigger your creatures are, can off mana dorks by himself, and can suicide to kill Bob, Grim Lavamancer, Pestermite, or Viscera Seer in a pinch.
Anti-Activated Abilities
Combat Throttlers
Windborn Muse: Forcing opponents to pay mana for each attacking creature can make them not attack you at all. Being able to block fliers and evasively swing for the win helps.
Graveyard Hate
Anafenza, the Foremost: Rather have restrictive graveyard hate that resembles Loxodon Smiter and pumps your other guys? Try her!
Loaming Shaman: It’s called hosing entire graveyards. With Chord of Calling, you can do that at instant speed. What’s not to like?
Withered Wretch: We wished this guy were Scavenging Ooze. Wishes granted.
Dryad Militant: Biggest 1-drop hate bear ever? Yup! Keeps instants and sorceries from falling into graveyards? Yup! She’s a bit tricky to Pod into, but she’s very cheap to Chord for.
Land Destruction
Avalanche Riders: Lucky enough to splash red? Then you can play a land-blasting dude who can blow up basics and not have to die in order to blow up lands!
Realm Razer: So, RG Tron Pyroclasmed your first wave of men and Oblivion Stoned the second. I bet they’re too exhausted to deal with Armageddon on a dude.
Hokori, Dust Drinker: Now Tron decks can no longer afford to tap out—muahahahahaha!
Anti-Search
Anti-Counterspells
Grand Abolisher: Hoses counterspells, end-of-turn shenanigans, removal on your turn, and more.
Vexing Shusher: This deck doesn’t need him so much—Birthing Pod gets around so many counterspells—but he could find a spot anyway.
Anti-Sacrifice
Tajuru Preserver: Keep facing off against Death Cloud? Does Living End always find you with zero sac outlets? Is someone swinging with Emrakul? This guy can find a way into your 75.
Tapping Trump
Big Men
Baneslayer Angel: We should do well enough against control, anyway (they need to remove every single combo piece, then they die to Reveillark and Ranger of Eos), but sometimes you really, really need the extra life and a win-con against red-based decks.
Thrun, the Last Troll: Are you up against a deck with a metric ton of spot removal, and do their attackers also look scary? Try Thrun on for size! He’s an absolute thorn to many decks, anyway.
Wurmcoil Engine: Stuck 3 Obstinate Baloths in your sideboard and still have problems with Jund? Try this guy! If Liliana of the Veil wants a sacrifice, sac it and make tiny Wurms. If Birthing Pod wants a sacrifice, same deal.
Grave Titan: Need to break board stalls in style? Get this 6-drop!
Artifacts
Birthing Pod: This thing is so useful. Got spare one-drops and need Melira? You’ve got her. Need to blow up that Pithing Needle now? Get Qasali Pridemage, Harmonic Sliver, or Acidic Slime. Love seeing nice Pod chains from Reveillark to Yosei to Protean Hulk? Use this.
Other Fun Stuff
Blasting Station: This is a spare sacrifice outlet that combos with Kitchen Finks (and not just Murderous Redcap) for infinite damage. You can also throw mana dorks to it to kill X/1’s, and if you time playing creatures right, you can kill bigger stuff and burn heads for significant amounts. Just be aware that you cannot search for it with any of your tutors.
Chalice of the Void: If you never want to lose to Burn or Delver again, this is a restrictive but decent sideboard option.
Enchantments
Choke: Keep facing blue-based decks? Now you can keep Gifts from resolving a second board wipe and turn Creeping Tar Pit into a joke, all in one handy-dandy little card!
Stony Silence: Truly desperate to shut up RG Tron? Also want an edge against Affinity? Try this and forget about using Birthing Pod!
Instants/Sorceries
Thoughtseize: See a hand with Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Cryptic Command, Spell Snare, Vendilion Clique, and 3 lands and you’ll be glad you cast Thoughtseize. The life loss hurts, though.
Inquisition of Kozilek: It does nearly everything Thoughtseize does, and it doesn’t make you lose life to boot.
Duress: We’re mainly concerned about removal, not the men on the other side, so this is the only other targeted discard spell you should consider.
Combo Hate
Slaughter Games: Splashing red? Board in the ultimate in turning combo decks into bad fair decks! Name Scapeshift or Grapeshot or Splinter Twin or Ad Nauseam or Possibility Storm or something and bam, their chances of winning plummet.
Memoricide: Not splashing red? Still need something that turns combo decks into bad fair decks? Try Memoricide and be prepared to see it get countered a few times.
Cranial Extraction: See Memoricide—they’re virtually functional reprints of each other!
Stain the Mind: Like your odds of getting 3 creatures and 2 lands by Turn 3 better than your odds of getting 1 mana dork and 3 lands? Try this instead of Memoricide!
Creature Removal
Path to Exile: We’re in white. This boots every single problematic creature we can think of and plenty that aren’t. Why not?
Dismember: Sick of giving your opponent extra lands? Can’t find enough white mana for Path to Exile? Why not play this? We’re in black, anyway, so if we don’t feel like paying life, we can just pay more mana.
Slaughter Pact: Want free removal (well, free on the turn you cast it)? Want creature-based combo decks to think they’re safe when you tap out, then get kicked down by surprise? Not afraid of Bob or Olivia Voldaren? Try this!
Murderous Cut: Sick of paying life? Sick of giving opponents lands? Sick of not being able to boot Anafenza, Bob, or Siege Rhino? Willing to wait a little for your removal to become live? Try this!
Abzan Charm: OK, it’s selective creature removal (it boots Linvala and most Scavenging Oozes, but not Pestermite or Grim Lavamancer), but it also draws cards, saves dudes from red removal, and protects the Archangel Spike combo!
Other Permanent Hate
Maelstrom Pulse: It only gets rid of everything...that isn’t a land. If lands are that problematic, play Fulminator Mage.
Putrefy: Prefer your versatile hate at instant speed? Putrefy is an option.
Abrupt Decay: Want your versatile hate to be uncounterable? Pick this card! Unfortunately, it won’t hit Linvala, but that’s the cost of raising your Exarch Twin match-up.
Gleeful Sabotage: Chord of Calling’s Convoke makes it extremely playable for us, so why not give Grafdigger’s Cage and Relic of Progenitus the middle finger and play an artifact/enchantment destruction spell we can duplicate? We have creatures to spare, after all.
Creeping Corrosion: Kicking Affinity’s butt is fun. Yes, you lose Birthing Pod and artifact creatures, but Pod would have just searched for slower ways to kick out Affinity’s stuff, anyway.
Fracturing Gust: For those who want their artifact sweeper to also kick enchantments’ and Bogles’s butts and gain life.
Creatures/Tutoring
Chord of Calling: We’ve usually got creatures to spare, and an instant-speed tutor that we can cheat mana on cannot be denied.
Lingering Souls: Anticipate that the game will go long? Think you’ll need to stick a lot of bodies to succeed? This is a pretty good way to grind opponents out.
Lands
Forest: Ghost Quarter and Tectonic Edge blow.
Swamp: Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon are evil.
Plains: Splashing white gives you access to so many sideboard options, removal, recursion, and hate bears. It has to be worth it.
Overgrown Tomb, Temple Garden, Godless Shrine: Shocklands fix your mana the best, but the life loss can be terrifying.
Verdant Catacombs, Windswept Heath, Marsh Flats: Fetchlands get you your shocklands, but they cost life. If you’re facing nonbasic land hate, they can also get you basic lands.
Twilight Mire, Wooded Bastion, Fetid Heath: They fix your mana without making you lose life. You need a steady stream of coloured mana for them to be useful, though.
Razorverge Thicket: Finally, a dual land that enters the battlefield untapped during that crucial first turn without costing life in any way! ...It sucks considerably more if it’s your fourth land drop or later, though, but those first few turns are pretty important!
Woodland Cemetery: Love lands that produce both green and black mana? Think you’ll reliably get Forests or Swamps out? Love this land!
Horizon Canopy: Sometimes, you just want to pay 1 mana and sacrifice a land to draw a card. This card also fixes your mana while you wait for that desperate moment.
Gemstone Caverns: It’s a solution to the “Body Double stuck in hand” problem...if you're not going first. I suppose a speed boost is always good, though.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: Want to make scads and scads of mana mid- to late-game, often green but sometimes black or white? Try this card!
Utility
Ghost Quarter: Let me guess—manlands are getting at you, and Tron is ramping in your face. This card can help, but the colourless mana production can take this off the list of lands to consider.
Tectonic Edge: See above, except it doesn’t give your opponent a land, but it’s somewhat slower to get active.
Dryad Arbor: If you need to Pod into Viscera Seer, this is the 0 cmc creature for you. Remember, fetchlands can get this card.
Bojuka Bog: Only use with Knight of the Reliquary. It’s good graveyard hate, though.
Gavony Township: It can refresh your Persist dudes if you already had to throw them in front of creatures or they ate removal. Turning your Birds of Paradise into actual threats is also funny.
Banned Olden Goldies
Deathrite Shaman: It’s arguably the best mana dork in the game. It makes decks splash both green and black just for it in Legacy and Vintage. It virtually swings for an unblockable 2 power for quite a few turns, gains life, and hates on graveyards. For doing all that for 1 mana, it got banned.
Great, now you want Melira Pod, Angel Pod, and Junk/Abzan Pod decklists. All right, here they are:
Deck Lists
1 Gemstone Caverns
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Twilight Mire
1 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Forest
2 Swamp
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Noble Hierarch
4 Wall of Roots
3 Viscera Seer
3 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Eternal Witness
1 Body Double
1 Reveillark
1 Protean Hulk
1 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Acidic Slime
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
4 Birthing Pod
4 Chord of Calling
1 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Kataki, War’s Wage
1 Nekrataal
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Spellskite
1 Withered Wretch
2 Duress
2 Thoughtseize
Melira Sees the World (Lukas Jankovsky’s Worlds 2011 List)
2 Razorverge Thicket
2 Twilight Mire
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Marsh Flats
4 Forest
2 Swamp
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Noble Hierarch
4 Wall of Roots
3 Viscera Seer
3 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reveillark
1 Sun Titan
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Shriekmaw
4 Birthing Pod
3 Chord of Calling
3 Thoughtseize
1 Acidic Slime
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Nekrataal
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Spellskite
1 Viridian Corrupter
3 Path to Exile
1 Thoughtseize
Melira Goes to Town (Zwischenzug’s 11th Place MTGO PTQ Barcelona List)
3 Razorverge Thicket
2 Woodland Cemetery
3 Gavony Township
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Forest
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Viscera Seer
4 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Murderous Redcap
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Reveillark
1 Spellskite
1 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Orzhov Pontiff
4 Birthing Pod
4 Chord of Calling
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Fulminator Mage
2 Harmonic Sliver
1 Kataki, War’s Wage
2 Obstinate Baloth
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Shriekmaw
1 Strangleroot Geist
1 Withered Wretch
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Choke
Melira Wins a Tournament (Sam Pardee's 1st Place GP Portland List)
3 Razorverge Thicket
1 Woodland Cemetery
3 Gavony Township
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
3 Forest
1 Swamp
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Deathrite Shaman
1 Wall of Roots
2 Viscera Seer
1 Cartel Aristocrat
2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Murderous Redcap
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reveillark
2 Voice of Resurgence
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Spellskite
4 Birthing Pod
3 Chord of Calling
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Aven Mindcensor
2 Dismember
1 Harmonic Sliver
3 Lingering Souls
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Shriekmaw
4 Thoughtseize
1 Voice of Resurgence
Melira Wins Another Tournament (Seth Manfield’s 1st Place GP Kansas City List)
3 Razorverge Thicket
1 Woodland Cemetery
2 Gavony Township
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
3 Forest
1 Swamp
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Deathrite Shaman
1 Wall of Roots
1 Viscera Seer
1 Cartel Aristocrat
2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Murderous Redcap
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reveillark
3 Voice of Resurgence
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Spellskite
4 Birthing Pod
3 Chord of Calling
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Voice of Resurgence
4 Thoughtseize
2 Dismember
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Aven Mindcensor
Melira Reaches the Finals (Jacob Wilson’s 2nd Place Pro Tour Born of the Gods List)
3 Razorverge Thicket
1 Woodland Cemetery
3 Gavony Township
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
3 Forest
1 Swamp
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Wall of Roots
1 Viscera Seer
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Murderous Redcap
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reveillark
2 Voice of Resurgence
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Spellskite
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Shriekmaw
4 Birthing Pod
3 Chord of Calling
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Obstinate Baloth
2 Path to Exile
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Sin Collector
2 Slaughter Pact
4 Thoughtseize
1 Voice of Resurgence
Melira Angel Pod Decks
3 Razorverge Thicket
1 Woodland Cemetery
3 Gavony Township
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
3 Forest
1 Swamp
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Deathrite Shaman
1 Wall of Roots
2 Viscera Seer
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Murderous Redcap
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reveillark
2 Voice of Resurgence
1 Spellskite
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Spike Feeder
4 Birthing Pod
3 Chord of Calling
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
3 Lingering Souls
1 Voice of Resurgence
4 Thoughtseize
1 Shriekmaw
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Harmonic Sliver
2 Dismember
1 Sin Collector
Angel Pod Decks
3 Gavony Township
3 Razorverge Thicket
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Marsh Flats
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Forest
1 Swamp
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Noble Hierarch
2 Wall of Roots
1 Spike Feeder
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reveillark
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Spellskite
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Sin Collector
1 Restoration Angel
1 Nekrataal
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Murderous Redcap
4 Birthing Pod
3 Chord of Calling
2 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Thoughtseize
2 Dismember
2 Path to Exile
2 Creeping Corrosion
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Obstinate Baloth
Junk/Abzan Pod Decks
2 Gavony Township
3 Razorverge Thicket
1 Godless Shrine
1 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Wall of Roots
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reveillark
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Restoration Angel
2 Siege Rhino
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Sin Collector
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Shriekmaw
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Birthing Pod
2 Thoughtseize
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Choke
1 Chord of Calling
1 Dismember
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Murderous Cut
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Thoughtseize
No Combo? No Problem! (Magnus Lantto’s 1st Place GP Milan List)
2 Gavony Township
3 Razorverge Thicket
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
1 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
3 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Plains
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Noble Hierarch
2 Wall of Roots
3 Voice of Resurgence
1 Spellskite
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Sin Collector
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Eternal Witness
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Murderous Redcap
2 Siege Rhino
2 Restoration Angel
1 Shriekmaw
1 Reveillark
4 Birthing Pod
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Thoughtseize
1 Orzhov Pontiff
2 Thoughtseize
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Qasali Pridemage
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Choke
2 Memoricide
1 Murderous Cut
1 Dismember
No Combo Deck Wins (Erik Peters’s 1st Place GP Omaha 2015 List)
3 Gavony Township
3 Razorverge Thicket
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Noble Hierarch
3 Wall of Roots
3 Voice of Resurgence
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Eternal Witness
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Sin Collector
3 Siege Rhino
2 Restoration Angel
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Reveillark
1 Shriekmaw
4 Birthing Pod
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Darkblast
1 Murderous Cut
1 Orzhov Pontiff
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Choke
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Dismember
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Spellskite
4 Thoughtseize
Lectrys's Deck
3 Gavony Township
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple Garden
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Viscera Seer
1 Cartel Aristocrat
2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reveillark
2 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Voice of Resurgence
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Siege Rhino
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Restoration Angel
1 Shriekmaw
4 Birthing Pod
2 Chord of Calling
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Spellskite
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Path to Exile
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Thoughtseize
2 Lingering Souls
You’re still not satisfied? You want to know how well the Pod variants do against the field? Well, read this:
Match-ups
Tested: Post-Theros, pre-Born of the Gods
Pre-board: Even (~50% win rate) (10 wins – 10 losses in playtest)
Give Affinity a decent hand and it will roll you. See Affinity mulligan to 5 cards in hand or less and you will be substantially more likely to win. Pray Affinity can’t mulligan into a decent hand to save its life—it does that surprisingly often.
For your first few turns, aim to survive. Prioritize hitting their most powerful cards (Cranial Plating, Master of Etherium, Steel Overseer, Signal Pest) with your removal, but be prepared to sometimes hit some shifty stuff like Vault Skirge. Be prepared to make your Birds of Paradise block. You’d be surprised how often they fold to your larger swarm beats after your remove their first few guys—that’s consolation for the fact that you won’t often have time to combo off against them.
Beware of Galvanic Blast if you attempt to combo off or extract Persist value out of Melira. Just be thankful that she stops Inkmoth Nexus dead.
MVPs: Kataki, War’s Wage, Qasali Pridemage, Harmonic Sliver, Orzhov Pontiff, Murderous Redcap, Eternal Witness
LVPs: Ethersworn Canonist, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Gaddock Teeg, Shriekmaw
Burn
Version: Angel Pod
Tested: Post-Khans of Tarkir, pre-Fate Reforged
Pre-board: Slightly favourable (~60% win rate) (12 wins - 8 losses in playtest)
Post-board: Even (~50% win rate) (15 wins - 15 losses in playtest)
Testing Done By: headminerve
Pre-board: Unfavourable (~30% win rate) (6 wins – 14 losses in playtest)
This match-up is so blazing fast that Birthing Pod and Chord of Calling actually start being a little slow. Use them wisely and creatively in Game 1 and be prepared to board some of them out.
Especially if they play Deathrite Shaman, this match-up is surprisingly tough. You can stick 2 Kitchen Finks in a single game and still lose, and not just to well-timed Skullcracks. They’ll slam Bolt after Bolt in your face (and at your poor Deathrite Shamans), and this deck’s aggro game is often not fast enough to race it.
You generally can’t combo off fast enough—you’re better off trading Melira with their Goblin Guide and recovering her or getting another later. Board combo pieces out afterwards.
If you can avoid playing shocklands untapped without absolutely wrecking your own tempo, always, always do it. You need to conserve as much of your life total as possible.
MVPs: Kitchen Finks, Obstinate Baloth, Deathrite Shaman, Spellskite, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
LVPs: Reveillark, Fulminator Mage
Gruul Zoo
Tested: Post-Magic 2014, pre-Theros
Pre-board: Unfavourable (~30% win rate) (6 wins – 14 losses in playtest)
This is another blazing fast match-up. Birthing Pod and Chord of Calling also start being a little slow here. Again, use them wisely and creatively in Game 1 and be prepared to board some of them out.
You’ll probably notice one thing in common between all the games you win—you traded off a ton of Kitchen Finks and/or Voice of Resurgence in them. Don’t be afraid to chump with Voice, and don’t be afraid to trade off just about everything in your deck with their guys, including Melira (except for Cartel Aristocrat, Varolz, the Scar-Striped, maybe Scavenging Ooze, and maybe Deathrite Shaman).
Early Ghor-Clan Rampager Bloodrushes tend to swing games and make them keep guys they would otherwise have traded away. Instant-speed removal like Abrupt Decay can turn those into blowouts in your favour, but you won’t always have the removal, even post-board (especially since they’ll start to Bloodrush only when you’re tapped out).
And yeah, if they play at least two Burning-Tree Emissarys on their Turn 2, be prepared to punt anyway later in that game. Their nuts hands are really hard to contain.
MVPs: Kitchen Finks, Obstinate Baloth, Deathrite Shaman, Voice of Resurgence, Scavenging Ooze, Eternal Witness, Cartel Aristocrat, Varolz, the Scar-Striped, Shriekmaw
LVPs: Harmonic Sliver, Gaddock Teeg, Ethersworn Canonist, Aven Mindcensor
Exarch Twin
Tested: Post-Magic 2013, pre-Return to Ravnica
Pre-board: Unfavourable (~30% win rate) (6 wins – 14 losses in playtest)
This is a tough one. Melira Pod generally cannot win fast enough with beats or the combo, so it has to slow Exarch Twin down with hate bears. Linvala is the most effective one, as she cuts off Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Splinter Twin (it grants creatures activated abilities), Spellskite, and Grim Lavamancer, but she is fairly slow to get out. Spellskite is the second most effective, as it hoses Splinter Twin and Grim Lavamancer, but it will not keep Kiki-Jiki from working his magic or opposing Spellskites from protecting him. Qasali Pridemage is not bad, as it hoses Splinter Twin and kills Spellskite, Gaddock Teeg at least hoses Splinter Twin, and Thalia can sometimes slow Exarch Twin down long enough for you to win.
However, the reality is that all those hate bears die to Flame Slash, and most of them die at instant speed to Grim Lavamancer or Electrostatic Bolt. The latter two can also effectively keep you from comboing off yourself. You need a critical mass of hate bears to guarantee a win, and even then, they can just off your most important one and combo off. The most embarrassing situation is when you swing with hate bears and they die to flashed-in spare Deceiver Exarchs or Pestermites.
Tutoring for your hate bears should be your first priority, but be prepared for Chord of Calling eating Dispel, Birthing Pod being Remanded all day, and both being hit by the occasional Spell Pierce.
MVPs: Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Spellskite, Qasali Pridemage, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Gaddock Teeg
LVPs: Obstinate Baloth, Loaming Shaman, Withered Wretch
Jund
Tested: Post-Magic 2013, pre-Return to Ravnica
Pre-board: Favourable (~60-70% win rate) (14 wins – 6 losses in playtest)
Melira Pod is built to be resilient to spot removal, and it shows in this match-up. Despite Jund’s 9 spot removal spells (4 Lightning Bolt, 3 Maelstrom Pulse, 2 Terminate) and 3 Liliana of the Veils, you’d be surprised how often you win by comboing off. Jund Charm is fairly problematic, though, and you should expect to lose more often if you come up against this card.
This is a match-up of card advantage. Overload them with recursive creatures and Gavony Township shenanigans and you should win. Their Bob is quite possibly the most valuable creature in the deck against you. Grim Lavamancer is very good, too, if they play it. Removing those guys should be your first priority over removing other creatures in this match-up.
Remember that you can royally screw over Liliana of the Veil if she -1’s immediately by sacrificing Murderous Redcap to her and pinging her after it Persists. Also remember every way you can abuse Birthing Pod with your build of the deck.
MVPs: Kitchen Finks, Obstinate Baloth, Reveillark, Eternal Witness, Burrenton Forge-Tender, Dauntless Escort, Spellskite, Restoration Angel
LVPs: Harmonic Sliver, Gaddock Teeg, Ethersworn Canonist
RG Artifact Tron/Karn Tron/RG Tron
Tested: Post-Magic 2013, pre-Return to Ravnica
Pre-board: Heavily unfavourable (~20% win rate) (4 wins - 16 losses in playtest)
This is a pretty ugly match-up. RG Artifact Tron runs around 16 outs to the Melira Combo (4 Pyroclasm, 4 Relic of Progenitus, 4 Karn Liberated, 2 Oblivion Stone, 1 Emrakul, 1 Ulamog), so you can’t count on comboing out to win. Even if you gain infinite life with Kitchen Finks, RG Artifact Tron can still stop you from pulling out Murderous Redcap profitably, stick an Eldrazi to continuously wipe your board, and then it can win by decking you out and discarding Eldrazi to ensure its library is bigger than yours, or it can restart the game with Karn, reduce you to 20 life, and still have an Eldrazi thanks to Karn. (Needless to say, RG Artifact Tron wins that game.)
You need to become hard beatdown to win. You won’t often be fast enough. Delay them for as long as possible with LD bears, Aven Mindcensor, and Thalia. Chord of Calling in Phyrexian Metamorph, Nekrataal, or Shriekmaw to kill Emrakul. Blow up Wurmcoil Engine, exposed Expedition Maps, and Relic of Progenitus with artifact-killing hate bears. Foil Karn with well-timed Restoration Angels or well-placed Spellskites. Nullify Pyroclasm with Burrenton Forge-Tender or Dauntless Escort. It won’t be easy, but you might be able to steal a few games against RG Artifact Tron. (Don’t be afraid to Pod away Melira in this match-up.)
MVPs: Fulminator Mage, Knight of the Reliquary, Realm Razer, Hokori, Dust Drinker, Aven Mindcensor, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Gaddock Teeg, Phyrexian Metamorph, Burrenton Forge-Tender
LVPs: Orzhov Pontiff, Ethersworn Canonist, Withered Wretch
UW Restoration Tempo
Tested: Post-Magic 2013, pre-Return to Ravnica
Pre-board: Even (~50% win rate) (10 wins – 10 losses in playtest)
For a deck with only 4-6 removal spells (4 Path to Exile, 0-2 Dismember), UW Restoration Tempo is pretty decent against you. It’s probably the 2-for-1s like Snapcaster Mage, Augur of Bolas, and Restoration Angel that do it. By the time they show up, they’ve already done at least half their job. Then their flying beaters kill you.
Birthing Pod gets around so many counterspells that it isn’t funny. It will win games for you against this deck. Sadly, it’s pretty prone to getting countered itself. Chord of Calling suffers similar problems against this deck, and pushes your tempo back to boot.
Lure their counterspells with everything that costs 3 or more mana and you may coast your way to victory. Turning your mana dorks into an army with the uncounterable Gavony Township is also pretty good against them.
MVPs: Eternal Witness, Reveillark, Ranger of Eos, Restoration Angel, Spellskite
LVPs: Realm Razer, Burrenton Forge-Tender
UWR Wafo-Tapa Control
Tested: Post-Magic 2014, pre-Theros
Pre-board: Favourable (~60% win rate) (12 wins – 8 losses in playtest)
Playtest figures may be deceiving. This match-up is pretty rough and stressful—for both parties, actually. A single mistake can lead to a loss, no matter who makes it.
Prioritize sticking recursive guys like Reveillark, card advantage-making guys like Ranger of Eos, and disruptive guys like Thalia in this match-up. UWR Wafo-Tapa Control has oodles of removal spells, so you probably won’t win with the combo, but stick those guys and they just might die to beats. (Of course, don’t overextend unless you’re sticking only recursive/CA guys.)
Birthing Pod is pretty good in this match-up—turning all your 1-drops into 2-drop hate bears is pretty sick, and they die to goodstuffs Pod chains like Voice of Resurgence-Kitchen Finks-Ranger-Lark. Pod does look fairly silly when you run out of creatures, though.
It’s tough playing your important stuff around Mana Leak—their Cryptic Command back-up is brutal. Speaking of Cryptic, always play around it by attacking, then casting spells. Even if they have Celestial Colonnade up, you’d be surprised how often they don’t block with it. If they do, slam down an important guy while they’re mostly tapped out.
In Game 1, you can lure counterspells by casting Chord of Calling at their end of turn, then casting something important on your turn. However, Chord is an expensive tutor for recursive/CA creatures in this match-up, so board it out for more threats.
If you’re really paranoid, you can try luring Spell Snare by casting other 2-drops first, then casting Voice. This may backfire, though, if they Leak your Voice.
MVPs: Reveillark, Eternal Witness, Voice of Resurgence, Ranger of Eos, Kitchen Finks, Tidehollow Sculler, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Gaddock Teeg
LVPs: Harmonic Sliver, Orzhov Pontiff, Aven Mindcensor
Remember, this deck may be good, but it can only get better and better! If you want to add stuff, give a shout in this thread and I’ll add it!
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@ Lectry: I would not run BBE if I were running GSZ or Summoner's Pact. Not saying that I dont like BBE, just that I dont like bad synergy.
@ jp_ftw: I totally spaced Gargadon in your list. Seems like it fits good. Keep us posted on your results.
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Also, at the OP, unless you're using Glittering Wish to find Congregation At Dawn or Wargate, you can't find Melira by Wishing for her.
By the way, I'm female.
Sorry!
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So? It grabs everything but a sacrifice outlet. Isn't that good enough?
- To my youngest sister when she was 6.
EDIT:
Heres a link to all persist creatures:
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?text=+[Persist]
I think a one-of Woodfall Primus would be pretty deadly.
UThada Adel AcquisitorU
GB Savara, Queen of the Golgori BG
GR Ulasht, the Hate Seed RG
Throne of Geth is not a good sac outlet, because a: you can only sac artifacts to it, and b: it taps to use its sac ability, which means you would normally only be able to use it once a turn.
EDIT: also tweaked my decklist once I realized I was running 13 sac outlets and only 8 persist creatures. I dropped a 1x Viscera Seer and Bloodthrone Vampire for 2x Safehold Elite. This will also give me an out in situations where I need to GSZ for a persist critter and only have 3 mana to work with.
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4 Birds of Paradise
2 Crypt Champion
3 Essence Warden
1 Eternal Witness
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
2 Murderous Redcap
3 Saffi Eriksdotter
1 Viscera Seer
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Flesh-Eater Imp
INSTANTS
3 Chord of Calling
2 Green Sun's Zenith
ARTIFACTS
4 Birthing Pod
3 Blasting Station
LANDS
3 Forest
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Sunpetal Grove
1 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Thoughtseize
2 Extirpate
1 Quillspike
3 Qasali Pridemage
2 Obstinate Baloth
3 Deathmark
1 Kataki, War's Wage
I have the project x combo in the deck as well. I generally use the Melira combo as it's more convenient to assemble. But having a backup seems sweet to me.
I'd consider cutting the project x combo down to 1 piece each if they weren't so synergistic to the rest of the deck. Not only can they combo with them selves but they work really well with the other combo as well.
Saffi Eriksdotter can protect Melira and be used to reset Finks or Redcap it they already have -1/-1 counter on them as well as protecting either Seer or Flesheater.
Crypt Champion can recur any combo piece other than redcap or flesh-eater
In my deck I run enough creature to run Chord of Calling to great effectiveness. I like the instant speed creature tutor that can be played for a discount if I have enough creatures in play.
And IMO Birthing Pod needs to be in the deck. It's just too good in the deck and it works fantastic with Finks.
I'm still tweaking the deck but this is where I'm at right now.
From my experience . if you can't play a duress or Thoughtseize turn 1, mulligan
the attack for a ton idea is way too slow. you will find your self 1 turn dead a lot.
i feel birds or something are necessary as I found my mana under attack a fair amount.
Also, what is the plan for beating the plethora of blue magic in this format?
One plan for beating counterspells is Aether Vial (or Bloodbraid Elf, the worst tutor for the deck ever). Another plan is Vexing Shusher in the sideboard. Yet another plan is more maindeck discard.
lol, all of us are just so used to saying he. Maybe you should put something girly in your sig:)
A jund colored build seems like the best way to abuse GSZ because it can find all of the parts. Glittering wish is cool and all, but not really worth the white unless I'm missing the tech.
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
Yea, I find a turn 1 Duress or Thoughtseize is the best way to start with this deck. I am tempted to either fit in Aether Vial or mana birds into the main deck as well. Either would probably speed things up and (as mentioned) Vial is a great way to get around counter magic.
I also like Summoning Trap a lot.
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I played deck and game 2 and 3 he played blood moon. If you can't win then you're pretty screwed. It stops you from playing everything except for Murderous Redcap
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You'll pretty much have the ability to draw your whole deck. Plus it can give you that reach against a sweep effect.
I like Turtles
Thats actually a pretty solid idea.
What do you think of this situation.
melira + Sac outlet + persist guy in play
Order of play
P1 sac persist guy
Persist hits the stack
Sac trigger hits the stack ( guy is still in graveyard )
P2 kills melira, she dies before the persist guy comes back into play, thus negating her ability.
the persist guy would come back, but with a -1-1 counter. It seems that our combo is pretty weak to spot removal like any other creature based combo.
What do we do to ensure shes not gibbed? Run lightning greaves?
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