What is everybody's thoughts on Eidolon of the Great Revel in Rabble Red? Could he have a home here. Seems like he could apply a lot of pressure and force the opponent to answer him or keep getting shocked.
@axman Hey I like your list. That is pretty much exactly the list I was planning on running at a ptq tomorrow too. The only difference is I have a rule of law and a whipflare in my board in place or your 2nd relic and spell pierce. Looks like we will be at the same ptq because I am from Illinois too! The one in Villa Park right ?
I have a question for all of you UG players out there. What does your mana base look like and how many sources of blue do you need? I was basically going to just splash for Blighted Agent so I don't need a lot of blue. I am somewhat on a budget switching over from mono green. This is the starting point I have so far:
I am not sure how many basic forest and additional blue sources I should run. Ideally I would like to have 4 Verdant Catacoms and 2 basic forest but I don't know if 4 Verdant Catacombs will be in the budget right away after getting the Misty Rainforsts and Noble Hierarchs. I was thinking maybe some number of Yavimaya Coast and basic forest to round it out. I'm not sure I like Hinterland Harbor. It just seems like this deck has too many non islands/forests for it to enter untapped. Not to mention it's terrible turn one. So let me know what mana bases you all are using and how to finish mine out please.
Hey I have a question for everybody. This is probably a bad idea but has anybody tries Leyline of Sanctity in the sideboard? I know it's a terrible top deck. I am getting tired of all these GBx decks with all of their discard and Liliana of the veils. This would help a lot against the discard spells and the Liliana sacrifice ability. It also has some uses against storm and maybe some other cards I haven't thought of right now.
Just wanted to know what people think or if anybody has tested it.
@radouf I couldn't agree more with you about gitaxian probe. I have been playing the mono green version with 4 probes main for a little while. I find the information they give you very important with this deck. But like Ultra Magnus says it's hard to fit them in. I have been testing different versions of mono green with and without probe. Every time I played a version without it I always wants to know what my opponent had in their hand.
I think I finally found a configuration I like. I have the 4 probes in the 2 flex slots and -1 rancor and -1 mutagenic growth. I did move the one rancor to the sideboard for matches that I think the trample might be relevant. I do now have the 4 apostles blessing main as well too that I used to only have 2 main 2 sideboard.
I have a ptq this Sunday so I think this is the way I'm going to run it. Hopefully it works out well.
@radouf I couldn't agree more with you about gitaxian probe. I have been playing the mono green version with 4 probes main for a little while. I find the information they give you very important with this deck. But like Ultra Magnus says it's hard to fit them in. I have been testing different versions of mono green with and without probe. Every time I played a version with out that I always wants to know what my opponent had in their hand.
I think I finally found a configuration I like. I have the 4 probes in the 2 flex slots and -1 rancor and -1 mutagenic growth. I did move the one rancor to the sideboard for matches that I think the trample might be relevant. I do now fun the 4 apostles blessing main as well too that I used to only have 2 main 2 sideboard.
I have a ptq this Sunday so I think this is the way I'm going to run it. Hopefully it works out well.
I noticed some more interesting deck lists from this weekends results. I see a few more people are trying out Gitaxian Probe, which is what I like to see shufflerpwned from the list Ultra_Magnus posted runs 3 and Kashmir went 3-1 with an interesting R/G list that ran 4 Probes. He cut down to 20 lands (only 2 Cathedral of War) and is splashing red for Assault Strobe. He is also running Blight Mamba over Necropede.
Another player by the name of deluxeicoff also when 3-1 in the same daily with a U/G build. This version cut down to 18 lands and played Aether Vial. Another thing about this list is it plays no Apostle's Blessing in favor of 3 Spellskite main. It also runs 20 total infect creatures if you count Inkmoth Nexus. Again Blight Mamba over Necropede.
Here is a link to the daily even I am talking about: (Sorry I didn't post the actual links but I am posting from my phone)
And one final list that I saw that I really like and seems like what I have been trying to do is from Alejandro Parody from and even in Spain (I think)
He cut the 2 flex slots and 1 Mutagenic Growth and 1 Rancor to fit 4 Gitaxian Probes. This might be the answer for me how to fit in the Probes I really want to play. I might change the sideboard a little bit though. What does everybody think about this list?
I may be using probe wrong, but i like that you get a draw off of it to, yeah the argument can be made why not just run x if thats what you want to draw into, but probe aside from letting you see if they can kill your dudes is useful if you draw it early enough to try figure out what deck they are running and then giving you some room to plan your plays ahead etc etc instead of going in blind.
Quote from from radouf »
But isn't the main use of Probe to see if they have anything to blow up your infectors? And if so, wouldn't you rather just have an answer in hand?
What other plus-value have you gotten from a Probe? Im interested in it, but couldn't figure a reason that wouldve made it just better than have the Apostle's blessing, as an answer. Since everything we do is pretty straight-forward.
Darth, see I don't play probe in hopes of drawing into X. I play it more for the second part of your statement. I play it so I can see if the coast is clear. Whether if its to play my first creature or going for the kill. Many times I will play it game one to see what deck my opponent is playing. I will also play it right before casting my first creature. This lets me see if they have a counter or a removal spell. This way I can plan my future lines of play. Sometimes I need to wait a turn to have protection back up. Other times if I have multiple threats I will just run the first one out there I want them to counter or kill and follow it up with the other one the following turn. The information Probe provides on a kill turn is very valuable too. It lets me see what they have and play my pump and protection in the correct order.
radouf, yes one of the main reasons is to see if they can blow up my infectors. Of course having an answer would be better but sometimes the information is just as good. Now don't get me wrong I still have the 2 Blessings main and 2 more after boarding along with the 4 Vines as answers.
Maybe this is all just the Legacy combo player in me wanting to play Gitaxian Probe. I guess it may have become a crutch for me to play it now, but the information it provides is so helpful and the fact that it replaces itself is just icing on the cake. It might not be what this deck wants to do but I figure its worth the discussion.
Thanks for the replies Magnus and Squirtle. Couple other follow up questions for you.
@Ultra Magnus. I see your point about blessing being good since mono green runs the 8 colorless lands so it casts for 2 life and 1 colorless. But probe is kind of the same just casting for 2 life not even needing the colorless. I understand the effects aren't exactly the same but just as far as casting cost goes.
I was also trying a UG version with Cathedrals for Blighted Agent but it just felt too clunky.
@Darth Squirtle. Why did you only like probe in UG instead of mono green? Was it just that you had the blue mana to cast it?
I may end up trying the 4/2 split in favor of probe going forward. I wouldn't say that I always feel the need for the extra blessings. Usually the info from probe and the 6 protection spells with Vines is enough for game one. I usually end up boarding the extra blessings in for which ever of the +2 pump spells seems weaker in a given match up.
One last question for all. So do you usually wait to play one of your creatures with vines/blessing back up? I am used to playing with probe to see what they are up to so I know how to play my threats accordingly. If I try with probe and the 4 blessings main I just want to make sure I'm testing it right to get the best results.
Has anybody else tried Gitaxian Probe in their mono green lists? I posted my list back on page 3 but didn't get much response. I just wanted to see if anybody else has given it a shot. I have a ptq in two weeks and I am trying to put the finishing touches on my deck.
Right now I am running 4 Gitaxian Probes and 2 Apostle's Blessing main with the other 2 in the board. I'm starting to feel like I'm doing something wrong here. All lists I see have 0 probes and the 4 blessings main. Do you think it's possible to drop to 20 lands with 4 of both probe and blessing main or is that too risky? Or should I just drop the probes and go for the 4 blessings main and fill the 2 flex slots with something else then?
Hey everybody. I have been playing this deck online for a little while now. I used to play BUG infect but sold all of the money cards so now I have switched to mono green. I just wanted to post my list and thoughts on the deck to see what everybody thinks.
The one main difference in my list from what I have been seeing is Gitaxian Probe. What is everybody's thought on this card? I personally love it. It seem perfect for this kind of deck with limited threats so you don't get caught going all in on one creature and it gets killed. The information it has provided me has been very valuable. It allows me to better play around my opponents removal and counters and lets me bait cards out of my opponents hand. I play Gitaxian Probe as a protection spell and not cantrip. This is why I cut down to the 2 Apostle's Blessing main and moved the other 2 to the sideboard against heavy removal decks games 2 and 3. So in a way I have 10 protection spells main and can go up to 12 after board.When I played BUG infect I only used 2 Apostle's Blessing main and it seemed to work. Sometimes I feel that card is to reactive. Now I could be completely wrong on this whole thing but that is why I posted looking for everybody's thoughts.
There are a couple other configurations I may want to try out but don't always have the time. I was considering going up to the full 4 Apostle's Blessing main and cutting 2 Forests. This would let me add 2 Spellskite to the sideboard in place of the blessings. I don't know how i feel about cutting down to 20 lands though. It seems like it would make hitting landfall for Groundswell harder, kicking Vines of Vastwood harder, and having mana to activate and pump Inkmoth Nexus harder.
Another configuration I was considering was cutting the Gitaxian Probes all together in favor of the full 4 Apostle's Blessing and 2 Blight Mamba main and 2 Spellskite in the sideboard. This way allows the full 8 hard protection spells as well as 2 additional threats. I just don't know if I would miss the information provided from Gitaxian Probe.
I'm new to the forum but have been playing for quite some time now. I have been testing a version of this deck on MGTO lately. My deck is close to what others have posted but I would like some feed back on it. I basically took a modern burn deck and replaced some of the weaker cards with Snapcaster Mage, Delver of Secrets and cantrips. The cantrips have been nice at digging for more business spells. I decided to forgo any counter magic and go for a more aggressive approach.
A couple notes about the deck: I'm not sure about the mana base. I like having 10 fetches and 10 lands to fetch. I don't know if I really need the second Island or Misty Rainforest but I haven't really had any mana problems with the deck. The fetches also provide cards to remove to Lavamancers. I was thinking of maybe adding some Shivan Reef of Sulfur Falls but I'm not sure.
I see some of you have been using Chandra's Phoenix. How has that been working out for you? It seems fairly easy enough to return in a deck like this but I'm not sure if spending 3 mana for a 2/2 flying haste is worth it or not. I find myself using most of my mana each turn with this deck. I might try it in place of Grim Lavamancer, but he has been working very well for me.
I am still working on the sideboard as of right now. Right now it consists of Combust, Smash to Smithereens, and Trickbind (which should be Mindbreak Trap but I don't have any yet). I'm not sure for the last 3 cards though, possible Leyline of Punishment or maybe more hate against the matchups I already have.
Also what do you guys think of Desperate Ravings or Faithless Looting in a deck like this?
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Breeding Pool
2 Pendelhaven
4 Inkmoth Nexus
I am not sure how many basic forest and additional blue sources I should run. Ideally I would like to have 4 Verdant Catacoms and 2 basic forest but I don't know if 4 Verdant Catacombs will be in the budget right away after getting the Misty Rainforsts and Noble Hierarchs. I was thinking maybe some number of Yavimaya Coast and basic forest to round it out. I'm not sure I like Hinterland Harbor. It just seems like this deck has too many non islands/forests for it to enter untapped. Not to mention it's terrible turn one. So let me know what mana bases you all are using and how to finish mine out please.
Just wanted to know what people think or if anybody has tested it.
I think I finally found a configuration I like. I have the 4 probes in the 2 flex slots and -1 rancor and -1 mutagenic growth. I did move the one rancor to the sideboard for matches that I think the trample might be relevant. I do now have the 4 apostles blessing main as well too that I used to only have 2 main 2 sideboard.
I have a ptq this Sunday so I think this is the way I'm going to run it. Hopefully it works out well.
I think I finally found a configuration I like. I have the 4 probes in the 2 flex slots and -1 rancor and -1 mutagenic growth. I did move the one rancor to the sideboard for matches that I think the trample might be relevant. I do now fun the 4 apostles blessing main as well too that I used to only have 2 main 2 sideboard.
I have a ptq this Sunday so I think this is the way I'm going to run it. Hopefully it works out well.
Another player by the name of deluxeicoff also when 3-1 in the same daily with a U/G build. This version cut down to 18 lands and played Aether Vial. Another thing about this list is it plays no Apostle's Blessing in favor of 3 Spellskite main. It also runs 20 total infect creatures if you count Inkmoth Nexus. Again Blight Mamba over Necropede.
Here is a link to the daily even I am talking about: (Sorry I didn't post the actual links but I am posting from my phone)
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/7143386
And one final list that I saw that I really like and seems like what I have been trying to do is from Alejandro Parody from and even in Spain (I think)
Here is his list:
http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=13780&iddeck=101288
He cut the 2 flex slots and 1 Mutagenic Growth and 1 Rancor to fit 4 Gitaxian Probes. This might be the answer for me how to fit in the Probes I really want to play. I might change the sideboard a little bit though. What does everybody think about this list?
Darth, see I don't play probe in hopes of drawing into X. I play it more for the second part of your statement. I play it so I can see if the coast is clear. Whether if its to play my first creature or going for the kill. Many times I will play it game one to see what deck my opponent is playing. I will also play it right before casting my first creature. This lets me see if they have a counter or a removal spell. This way I can plan my future lines of play. Sometimes I need to wait a turn to have protection back up. Other times if I have multiple threats I will just run the first one out there I want them to counter or kill and follow it up with the other one the following turn. The information Probe provides on a kill turn is very valuable too. It lets me see what they have and play my pump and protection in the correct order.
radouf, yes one of the main reasons is to see if they can blow up my infectors. Of course having an answer would be better but sometimes the information is just as good. Now don't get me wrong I still have the 2 Blessings main and 2 more after boarding along with the 4 Vines as answers.
Maybe this is all just the Legacy combo player in me wanting to play Gitaxian Probe. I guess it may have become a crutch for me to play it now, but the information it provides is so helpful and the fact that it replaces itself is just icing on the cake. It might not be what this deck wants to do but I figure its worth the discussion.
@Ultra Magnus. I see your point about blessing being good since mono green runs the 8 colorless lands so it casts for 2 life and 1 colorless. But probe is kind of the same just casting for 2 life not even needing the colorless. I understand the effects aren't exactly the same but just as far as casting cost goes.
I was also trying a UG version with Cathedrals for Blighted Agent but it just felt too clunky.
@Darth Squirtle. Why did you only like probe in UG instead of mono green? Was it just that you had the blue mana to cast it?
I may end up trying the 4/2 split in favor of probe going forward. I wouldn't say that I always feel the need for the extra blessings. Usually the info from probe and the 6 protection spells with Vines is enough for game one. I usually end up boarding the extra blessings in for which ever of the +2 pump spells seems weaker in a given match up.
One last question for all. So do you usually wait to play one of your creatures with vines/blessing back up? I am used to playing with probe to see what they are up to so I know how to play my threats accordingly. If I try with probe and the 4 blessings main I just want to make sure I'm testing it right to get the best results.
Right now I am running 4 Gitaxian Probes and 2 Apostle's Blessing main with the other 2 in the board. I'm starting to feel like I'm doing something wrong here. All lists I see have 0 probes and the 4 blessings main. Do you think it's possible to drop to 20 lands with 4 of both probe and blessing main or is that too risky? Or should I just drop the probes and go for the 4 blessings main and fill the 2 flex slots with something else then?
12 Forest
2 Pendelhaven
4 Cathedral of War
4 Inkmoth Nexus
Creatures
4 Glistener Elf
4 Necropede
4 Ichorclaw Myr
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Groundswell
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Rancor
4 Vines of Vastwood
2 Apostle's Blessing
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Nature's Claim
4 Dismember
4 Tormod's Crypt
2 Apostle's Blessing
1 Viridian Corrupter
The one main difference in my list from what I have been seeing is Gitaxian Probe. What is everybody's thought on this card? I personally love it. It seem perfect for this kind of deck with limited threats so you don't get caught going all in on one creature and it gets killed. The information it has provided me has been very valuable. It allows me to better play around my opponents removal and counters and lets me bait cards out of my opponents hand. I play Gitaxian Probe as a protection spell and not cantrip. This is why I cut down to the 2 Apostle's Blessing main and moved the other 2 to the sideboard against heavy removal decks games 2 and 3. So in a way I have 10 protection spells main and can go up to 12 after board.When I played BUG infect I only used 2 Apostle's Blessing main and it seemed to work. Sometimes I feel that card is to reactive. Now I could be completely wrong on this whole thing but that is why I posted looking for everybody's thoughts.
There are a couple other configurations I may want to try out but don't always have the time. I was considering going up to the full 4 Apostle's Blessing main and cutting 2 Forests. This would let me add 2 Spellskite to the sideboard in place of the blessings. I don't know how i feel about cutting down to 20 lands though. It seems like it would make hitting landfall for Groundswell harder, kicking Vines of Vastwood harder, and having mana to activate and pump Inkmoth Nexus harder.
Another configuration I was considering was cutting the Gitaxian Probes all together in favor of the full 4 Apostle's Blessing and 2 Blight Mamba main and 2 Spellskite in the sideboard. This way allows the full 8 hard protection spells as well as 2 additional threats. I just don't know if I would miss the information provided from Gitaxian Probe.
I'm new to the forum but have been playing for quite some time now. I have been testing a version of this deck on MGTO lately. My deck is close to what others have posted but I would like some feed back on it. I basically took a modern burn deck and replaced some of the weaker cards with Snapcaster Mage, Delver of Secrets and cantrips. The cantrips have been nice at digging for more business spells. I decided to forgo any counter magic and go for a more aggressive approach.
Here is the deck list:
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
4 Magma Jet
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Steam Vents
4 Mountain
2 Island
A couple notes about the deck: I'm not sure about the mana base. I like having 10 fetches and 10 lands to fetch. I don't know if I really need the second Island or Misty Rainforest but I haven't really had any mana problems with the deck. The fetches also provide cards to remove to Lavamancers. I was thinking of maybe adding some Shivan Reef of Sulfur Falls but I'm not sure.
I see some of you have been using Chandra's Phoenix. How has that been working out for you? It seems fairly easy enough to return in a deck like this but I'm not sure if spending 3 mana for a 2/2 flying haste is worth it or not. I find myself using most of my mana each turn with this deck. I might try it in place of Grim Lavamancer, but he has been working very well for me.
I am still working on the sideboard as of right now. Right now it consists of Combust, Smash to Smithereens, and Trickbind (which should be Mindbreak Trap but I don't have any yet). I'm not sure for the last 3 cards though, possible Leyline of Punishment or maybe more hate against the matchups I already have.
Also what do you guys think of Desperate Ravings or Faithless Looting in a deck like this?
Let me know what you guys think.
-Jigga