Ugh, of course I untap first, that was a silly brain fart. Yeah, Mesa is still pretty unbeatable for sure.
As to Blade of Selves, I'm wary about it for the same reason I'm wary about cards like Akroma's Memorial, in that you're not actually adding a lot of extra power to finish the game at that converted cost, inviting your opponents to destroy it without much short term loss.
However I think there are more arguments for it than against. Unlike Memorial it's recoverable with Sun Titan and can be snuck out early with, say, Stoneforge Mystic for an impressive head start. At least in the brainstorming phase I'm actually impressed with how many different circumstances the will be a worthwhile amount of mana in the mid to late game if I just play it, slap it on something and swing; there are plenty of creatures at 5 or below on the curve where having two or three additional triggers (as well as a bit of extra damage) is not unreasonable for . On some dudes like Angel of Serenity it may be a game-winner. I think I'll give it a try.
Teachings just feels like a slower, worse, more conditional sacred mesa to me. More ways to tutor for mesa probably superior.
Thanks for your continued interest, Pokken. I'm honestly kicking myself for not including Vial sooner... Trinket Mage grabs it, it fits the flash theme and I have some prime, low-curve CMC slots in the deck. Can't wait to see it in action.
Exemplars immediately shot into my Top 10 favourite creatures as soon as they were spoiled. They're fun, they're toolboxy, they have great art and are my favourite creature tribe. I was thrilled to realize one of my decks could actually accommodate the card viably. They trigger Ephara, they work brilliantly with equipment of any kind, and just generally do what you need them to do.
Honestly, you're right about Mesa vs. Teachings on the whole. Do you have a problem with your meta hating on Mesa, watching you like hawk and wrathing if you don't have 1W open? I feel like the card locks away an extra two mana which can be irritating. I'd just love an alternative to it that flies under my meta's radar more, but I agree as a card Teachings is inferior.
Ha, if you had checked the thread yesterday you would have seen Venser II on the list. I've cut him for now to give Æther Vial a try. He's obviously very nice in this deck, but in practice, planeswalkers get dogpiled something fierce in my meta. He's been high on the chopping block for a while now and I'm excited to try new cards as I've been out of the game for a while. He may very well make a comeback at some point.
Obviously DEN would be good here, but I enjoy the slight extra challenge of creating ETB decks without that dumb card.
Incidentally, two cards I'm experimenting with right now in this deck are Ojutai Exemplars and Skywise Teachings, both of which have plenty of noncreature fuel and synergize nicely with Ephara. I haven't looked strongly at Neo Zendikar yet but I'm honestly doubtful there's much there for her.
Some great stuff in here Pokken, thank you. I agree that Archetype is underrated, however I have actually got my hands on an additional Elesh Norn, so she's in.
I completely agree with you about Avacyn, and in retrospect I've strayed away from an initial goal of keeping this deck's creature curve down. Elesh does that slightly already but I'll be looking into it further.
I actually do have a spare Vial, and good god, that would work well in this deck. I'll look into including it.
Like you, I want to include the equipment package since Ephara is a huge attacker. Have you considered Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang? Card is long forgotten but still cool as hell. Makes a creature to trigger Ephara or pumps Ephara enough to two shot opponents.
You're speaking to someone for whom, at least from a casual perspective, Tatsumasa is one of my favourite cards of all time. I do appreciate the versatility and I do like the instant speed creature trigger. I'm afraid my meta has just grown to outpace this card, however. This deck lacks the mana acceleration to get to the available to make an immediate, pumped swing or the to cast it without fear of Disenchantment. There's lots of artifact hate in my meta and in practice, it's simply never done much work. I liked it in my old Rubinia Populate deck, for the ability to populate the Dragon Spirit, but I just had to cut it, to my chagrin.
This is the intent of my Rubinia Soulsinger deck (sig) and you may find it helpful. There's obviously no Bant general that's particularly thematic, but at least her Control Magic ability brings other creatures over for Cackling Counterpart to copy. Furthermore, since Bant runs a lot of ETB generally anyway, including stuff like Conjurer's Closet not only abuses ETB creatures, it lets you permanently keep creatures stolen by Ruby as they specify controller's control, not owner's.
I've been thinking A) I wanna try one of the planeswalker generals and B) manifest (particularly Temur War Shaman and Whisperwood Elemental) seems like fun so I'mma try my hand at Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury. Plus I like the old fluff and haven't tried my hand at mono green yet.
Ugh I'm sure I'll think of better ones but last session I had Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero put Bound in Silence on herself in response to Yasova Dragonclaw trying to charm her over and send her to her death. That got grudging nods from the table ha ha.
It's not really the power of certain combo cards that irritate me. It's obvious design, brainless deck implementation and broad usage that threatens format diversity.
(Admittedly those all overlap pretty strongly with "powerful".)
Oddly enough I dont think I have ever seen anyone run Petrified Field IRL. I gave it some thought a few times for Cabal Coffers but I have never actually pulled the trigger on it. Unfortunately its sort of a bad synergy with coffers as well.
Yeah. In multicolor, having another go at a fetch is obvious, and if you're fixed it taps for colourless the turn in comes into play. Mono colour is more questionable, but still worthwhile in my opinion. On the one hand, it's one less Plains for Emeria. But on the other hand, I feel like I can still get to seven Plains while keeping this as an option in the Map/Wayfarer toolbox to rescue it if it gets tagged. The latter seems more worthwhile, but that's maybe just me.
As to Blade of Selves, I'm wary about it for the same reason I'm wary about cards like Akroma's Memorial, in that you're not actually adding a lot of extra power to finish the game at that converted cost, inviting your opponents to destroy it without much short term loss.
However I think there are more arguments for it than against. Unlike Memorial it's recoverable with Sun Titan and can be snuck out early with, say, Stoneforge Mystic for an impressive head start. At least in the brainstorming phase I'm actually impressed with how many different circumstances the
Exemplars immediately shot into my Top 10 favourite creatures as soon as they were spoiled. They're fun, they're toolboxy, they have great art and are my favourite creature tribe. I was thrilled to realize one of my decks could actually accommodate the card viably. They trigger Ephara, they work brilliantly with equipment of any kind, and just generally do what you need them to do.
Honestly, you're right about Mesa vs. Teachings on the whole. Do you have a problem with your meta hating on Mesa, watching you like hawk and wrathing if you don't have 1W open? I feel like the card locks away an extra two mana which can be irritating. I'd just love an alternative to it that flies under my meta's radar more, but I agree as a card Teachings is inferior.
Ha, if you had checked the thread yesterday you would have seen Venser II on the list. I've cut him for now to give Æther Vial a try. He's obviously very nice in this deck, but in practice, planeswalkers get dogpiled something fierce in my meta. He's been high on the chopping block for a while now and I'm excited to try new cards as I've been out of the game for a while. He may very well make a comeback at some point.
Obviously DEN would be good here, but I enjoy the slight extra challenge of creating ETB decks without that dumb card.
Thanks again for the input guys.
Feel free to prove me wrong though, guys.
I completely agree with you about Avacyn, and in retrospect I've strayed away from an initial goal of keeping this deck's creature curve down. Elesh does that slightly already but I'll be looking into it further.
I actually do have a spare Vial, and good god, that would work well in this deck. I'll look into including it.
Gee whiz, how did that happen. Thanks Phillerup.
You're speaking to someone for whom, at least from a casual perspective, Tatsumasa is one of my favourite cards of all time. I do appreciate the versatility and I do like the instant speed creature trigger. I'm afraid my meta has just grown to outpace this card, however. This deck lacks the mana acceleration to get to the
Thank you for the response, though!
This is the intent of my Rubinia Soulsinger deck (sig) and you may find it helpful. There's obviously no Bant general that's particularly thematic, but at least her Control Magic ability brings other creatures over for Cackling Counterpart to copy. Furthermore, since Bant runs a lot of ETB generally anyway, including stuff like Conjurer's Closet not only abuses ETB creatures, it lets you permanently keep creatures stolen by Ruby as they specify controller's control, not owner's.
If people who cut DEN for something more novel annoys you then you remind me of grumpy cat lol!
(Admittedly those all overlap pretty strongly with "powerful".)