Would Combustible Gearhulk be a better option than Burning Sun's Avatar in this deck ?
It can deal quite a bit of damage in this deck (the curve is pretty high) and is a rather good blocker.
After trying Combustible I'm back to Avatar as dying to Abrade and the inconsistent ability wasn't a good enough tradeoff.
I'm still not sure if there isn't something better for this slot, preferrably resilient and with some immediate impact.
#Glorybringer might be an option though unlike Avatar it can't survive Hour of Devastation (and is easier to remove).
#There is also Etali, Primal Storm which I haven't tried yet but it doesn't have an immediate impact so it seems a bit questinable.
# The new Darigaaz Reincarnated can be good though I'm not sure if I'd want to add more 7-drops besides Bolas to slow the deck down even more.
#Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar looks pretty good as a resilient threat but has no immediate impact.
#Burning Sun's Avatar was good but often didn't get to do much and got removed easily so it got replaced by Fight with Fire which is both a good removal spell and a 10-damage finisher later in the game.
#Pull from Tomorrow while powerful is probably not really necessary here so I've replaced it with Search for Azcanta to improve the early game.
#In the SB: Struggle // Survive is probably no longer necessary with 4x maindeck Fight with Fire so it is cut and I also want to try out Thrashing Brontodon over Naturalize as it is also a blocker and can be boarded in against control to attack so +4x Brontodon.
#The Banefire reprint seems pretty good as a finisher for this deck though I don't know if it is worth it over Fight with Fire or over some of the SB finishers against control like Nezahal.
G1 tends to be difficult when I try to either land a fast PW or ramp quickly to find Arch and start grinding out card advantage with Glimmer/Mind and chip in damage with zombies from Hour to force some action.
After more testing Glimmer seems to be one of the weaker cards in the deck (though a solid card) as often I need interaction and can't really afford to draw cards.9
I've replaced it with 2x maindeck copies of Thrashing Brontodon (blocker + enchantment removal) and 2x Thaumatic Compass
(more ramp and flips into a land that stops difficult to remove threats like Hazoret/Ghalta from attacking).
The 2x freed SB slots are back to Struggle // Survive until I find something better.
The changes to the deck were pretty good so far though I still lose to aggro decks even with all the removal in the deck especially if they pack burn to finish me off after I manage to stabilize the board.
Another issue with the deck is dealing with an early PW (turn 3 Gideon or Turn 4 Chandra/Karn) as I can't really remove them without a kicked Fight with Fire (or a timely Hour of Devastation) and pressuring them with just the zombie tokens from Hour and the occasional Thrashing Brontodon is often hard.
Is there anything I can use (that doesn't involve white or BB cards) ?
Maybe Sorcerous Spyglass is worth it in the SB over Struggle // Survive.
I also consider changing the finishers in the deck, especially Nissa which can be good but is too easily dealt with by Vraska's Contempt.
I mainly like her as she can both attack and defend well after the board is semi-stabilized with the 5/5 lands and rebuying Bolas or Brontodon.
I'm not sure what can be better option, maybe Vraska, Relic Seeker which offers a good removal ability so it still suffers from similar issues.
Other non-PW options can be:
# Moving Sandwurm Convergence to the maindeck - it is a pretty powerful finisher and dodging enchantment removal is easier than PW removal but at 8-cmc it can often clog the hand and be uncastable in non-optimal ramp draws and it is very slow against aggro.
# Sylvan Awakening - might be a bit gimmicky and a one-shot effect but the deck can get to a high number of lands quickly so maybe it is worth testing.
# Banefire - more big burn alongside Fight with Fire, can hit a PW or be an overcosted removal spell and dodge countermagic against control.
# Torment of Hailfire - another potentially powerful burn spell but is more conditional compared to the red options and the BB cost isn't really supported in the current manabase without Gift of Paradise.
Vraska and Banefire both seem like solid options. (Torment would be excellent but as you say the mana base doesn't support it well enough.) I wouldn't cut Nissa tho. Better option IMO would be removing the Brontos and Azcanta for a 2/1 split going either way. You could possibly swap a FWF for Banefire too.
I rather like Azcanta as a 1x-of though, it is really good in the lategame once I flip it to find me a finisher and the deck is almost creatureless anyway so it should hit pretty well.
After dropping Glimmer and Pull, I'm left only with Arch and Mind as card draw options do dropping Search as well will make this even worse.
I also like having some maindeck answers to enchantments here with Brontodon and it is a good blocker as well to slow down creature beats so I'm not sure about taking it out.
Another SB card I consider adding is Commit // Memory over Struggle // Survive as sort of a catch-all against spells and troublesome permanents (like PW's).
Even Memory though risky can be used to dig towards a lethal burn spell in the late game (or disrupt opponents' graveyards like Survive).
Recently I'm having major issues with aggro decks (which is absurd with the amount of removal in the deck), especially the Mono Green Stompy lists which are very good against Red removal (mainly Sweltering Suns/Abrade) and basically require me to have multiple copies of Fight/Devastation to stand any chance and Spires of Orazca to stabilize..
The deck is Temur-colored with a tiny black splash for Nicol Bolas and SB Doomfall.
The main finishers are: 4x Burning Sun's Avatar, 2x Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh and 2x Nissa, Vital Force
(with alternative options like: Sandwurm Convergence and Nezahal, Primal Tide in the SB).
Here it is:
4x Burning Sun's Avatar
Planeswalker (4)
2x Nissa, Vital Force
2x Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
Sorcery (15)
4x Spring // Mind
4x Hour of Promise
4x Sweltering Suns
3x Hour of Devastation
Instant (8)
3x Abrade
4x Glimmer of Genius
1x Pull from Tomorrow
Enchantment (4)
4x Gift of Paradise
Land (25)
4x Rootbound Crag
2x Sheltered Thicket
1x Arch of Orazca
1x Scavenger Grounds
2x Hashep Oasis
1x Ipnu Rivulet
1x Desert of the Fervent
1x Desert of the Indomitable
1x Desert of the Mindful
4x Forest
4x Mountain
2x Island
1x Swamp
4x Negate
3x Doomfall
2x Naturalize
2x Struggle // Survive
2x Nezahal, Primal Tide
2x Sandwurm Convergence
The plan is to ramp and stabilize the board with wraths to take over the game with big haymakers.
Burning Sun's Avatar was chosen as it does something even if it gets removed immediately, other options can probably be Carnage Tyrant
and Walking Ballista (Combustible Gearhulk might also be good here).
Nissa can clock pretty quickly with 5/5 hasty lands, ult' to draw cards and in the late game it can bring back removed dinosaurs or Bolas.
Some cards I considered including but didn't find room for are Search for Azcanta and Treasure Map (or Thaumatic Compass).
It can deal quite a bit of damage in this deck (the curve is pretty high) and is a rather good blocker.
I'm still not sure if there isn't something better for this slot, preferrably resilient and with some immediate impact.
#Glorybringer might be an option though unlike Avatar it can't survive Hour of Devastation (and is easier to remove).
#There is also Etali, Primal Storm which I haven't tried yet but it doesn't have an immediate impact so it seems a bit questinable.
# The new Darigaaz Reincarnated can be good though I'm not sure if I'd want to add more 7-drops besides Bolas to slow the deck down even more.
#Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar looks pretty good as a resilient threat but has no immediate impact.
The new ramp spell from Dominaria, Grow from the Ashes (puts the land in play untapped unlike Beneath the Sands/Spring // Mind),
seems pretty good though I probably wouldn't want to give up on Gift of Paradise because of the lifegain and fixing and the card draw of Spring // Mind.
#Burning Sun's Avatar was good but often didn't get to do much and got removed easily so it got replaced by Fight with Fire which is both a good removal spell and a 10-damage finisher later in the game.
#Pull from Tomorrow while powerful is probably not really necessary here so I've replaced it with Search for Azcanta to improve the early game.
#In the SB: Struggle // Survive is probably no longer necessary with 4x maindeck Fight with Fire so it is cut and I also want to try out Thrashing Brontodon over Naturalize as it is also a blocker and can be boarded in against control to attack so +4x Brontodon.
#The Banefire reprint seems pretty good as a finisher for this deck though I don't know if it is worth it over Fight with Fire or over some of the SB finishers against control like Nezahal.
Here is the updated list:
2x Nissa, Vital Force
2x Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
Sorcery (19)
4x Spring // Mind
4x Fight with Fire
4x Sweltering Suns
3x Hour of Devastation
4x Hour of Promise
Instant (7)
3x Abrade
4x Glimmer of Genius
Enchantment (5)
1x Search for Azcanta
4x Gift of Paradise
4x Rootbound Crag
1x Arch of Orazca
1x Scavenger Grounds
3x Hashep Oasis
2x Ipnu Rivulet
2x Desert of the Fervent
1x Desert of the Indomitable
4x Forest
4x Mountain
2x Island
1x Swamp
4x Negate
3x Doomfall
4x Thrashing Brontodon
2x Nezahal, Primal Tide
2x Sandwurm Convergence
Any input/suggestions/ideas is welcome.
Post board it gets much better with: Negate, Doomfall and Nezahal.
I've replaced it with 2x maindeck copies of Thrashing Brontodon (blocker + enchantment removal) and 2x Thaumatic Compass
(more ramp and flips into a land that stops difficult to remove threats like Hazoret/Ghalta from attacking).
The 2x freed SB slots are back to Struggle // Survive until I find something better.
Current list is:
2x Nissa, Vital Force
2x Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
Creature (2)
2x Thrashing Brontodon
Sorcery (19)
4x Spring // Mind
4x Fight with Fire
4x Sweltering Suns
3x Hour of Devastation
4x Hour of Promise
Artifact (2)
2x Thaumatic Compass
Instant (3)
3x Abrade
Enchantment (5)
1x Search for Azcanta
4x Gift of Paradise
4x Rootbound Crag
1x Arch of Orazca
1x Scavenger Grounds
3x Hashep Oasis
2x Ipnu Rivulet
2x Desert of the Fervent
1x Desert of the Indomitable
4x Forest
4x Mountain
2x Island
1x Swamp
4x Negate
3x Doomfall
2x Struggle // Survive
2x Thrashing Brontodon
2x Nezahal, Primal Tide
2x Sandwurm Convergence
Another issue with the deck is dealing with an early PW (turn 3 Gideon or Turn 4 Chandra/Karn) as I can't really remove them without a kicked Fight with Fire (or a timely Hour of Devastation) and pressuring them with just the zombie tokens from Hour and the occasional Thrashing Brontodon is often hard.
Is there anything I can use (that doesn't involve white or BB cards) ?
Maybe Sorcerous Spyglass is worth it in the SB over Struggle // Survive.
I also consider changing the finishers in the deck, especially Nissa which can be good but is too easily dealt with by Vraska's Contempt.
I mainly like her as she can both attack and defend well after the board is semi-stabilized with the 5/5 lands and rebuying Bolas or Brontodon.
I'm not sure what can be better option, maybe Vraska, Relic Seeker which offers a good removal ability so it still suffers from similar issues.
Other non-PW options can be:
# Moving Sandwurm Convergence to the maindeck - it is a pretty powerful finisher and dodging enchantment removal is easier than PW removal but at 8-cmc it can often clog the hand and be uncastable in non-optimal ramp draws and it is very slow against aggro.
# Sylvan Awakening - might be a bit gimmicky and a one-shot effect but the deck can get to a high number of lands quickly so maybe it is worth testing.
# Banefire - more big burn alongside Fight with Fire, can hit a PW or be an overcosted removal spell and dodge countermagic against control.
# Torment of Hailfire - another potentially powerful burn spell but is more conditional compared to the red options and the BB cost isn't really supported in the current manabase without Gift of Paradise.
What do you think ?
After dropping Glimmer and Pull, I'm left only with Arch and Mind as card draw options do dropping Search as well will make this even worse.
I also like having some maindeck answers to enchantments here with Brontodon and it is a good blocker as well to slow down creature beats so I'm not sure about taking it out.
Maybe 2x Vraska can replace a copy of Nissa and Hour of Devastation each which can move to the SB by triming down on Nezahal and Convergence.
Another SB card I consider adding is Commit // Memory over Struggle // Survive as sort of a catch-all against spells and troublesome permanents (like PW's).
Even Memory though risky can be used to dig towards a lethal burn spell in the late game (or disrupt opponents' graveyards like Survive).
What is the best way to improve the match-up ?
To add Hour of Glory to the maindeck ? Replace Abrade with Struggle // Survive ?