Evolution Sage
2G
Uncommon
Creature - Elf Druid
Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, proliferate.
3/2
A mostly free way to proliferate hopefully 2-3~ times in a single turn, possibly ult-ing a planeswalker in one turn or trying to jank out Simic Ascendancy or something.
I'm trying to ult planeswalkers in Standard with a Bant Shell. Here's the first list off the top of my head:
Draw, Ramp, Walkers, Combo Pieces, and Ramp Payoffs as a Plan B. It probably needs actual tuning and likely gets run over by mono blue so I need to think about sideboard and tweaking the maindeck against the meta but I just wanted to get it down and see if other people were having similar thoughts.
Neoform is certainly interesting but the deck's don't play a lot of non-creatures so slots are tight. Maybe if there was a dedicated "combo" even a janky one. I am interested in testing it anyway.
I think Bant does have slightly better creatures on the splash but I'm all about straight Temur Vannifar now. We don't have the glut of creature removal that Bant does but we do have some options like Ravanger Wurm and (to a lesser extent) Skarrgan Hellkite. But the biggest draw in Temur vs Bant is something that Bant just can't replicate: Rhythm of the Wild and Rekindling Phoenix (and maybe Squee!). Rhythm is such a big draw because it's a much-needed plan B, just Temur Monster beatdown. If you don't have Vannifar or she gets hated out, the deck can still just win games on its own. But with Vannifar it makes sure she A) Can't be countered and B) Has Haste. That's just too perfect for what Pod wants to do. Bant Vannifar has to slam her and pray. Then there's the Phoenix which is so stupidly good on its own and stupidly synergistic that it creates a reliable package that can just out grind most decks.
Right now I think Bant still has a better matchup against the aggro decks of the format, and that's something that pushes it to be favored if you're playing Bo1. But for those in paper or MTGO or Bo3 I think Temur will be the varient to beat. Here's my list.
I think Bant vs Temur is building based on your preference offence or defence. I think the chance of getting Vannifar in Bant is MUCH higher because of Militia Bugler. It's such a good 3 drop, and is a good sac target for the 4 drop range. I think Shalai, Voice of Plenty and Unbreakable Formation along with Dive Down give plenty of good ways of protecting Vannifar and your board in general.
I think both are quite successful, though. It'll really depend on your local meta, or matchup. Rhythm of the Wild will make this deck so much better against Control, even if you're still pretty vulnerable to sweepers. I do think a hasted Vannifar turn 5 or so to suddenly cheat in a hasted Carnage Tyrant or something may be game over.
Have you had any consistency issues? It seems like you don't have a lot of ways of filtering for your necessary pieces. Vannifar is more vulnerable in your deck without Rhythm of the Wild.[/quote]I think a big difference is that my Temur build doesn't rely on Vannifar so we don't fret about finding her. Without her, the deck is still Temur monsters and you can win games without drawing Vannifar or even Rhythm. When you do draw one or both of those pieces though, the deck just explodes and can do crazy amounts of burst damage or just flood the board with powerful midrange threats. The Bant pod list is built to make sure you find and can protect Vannifar, the Temur build just uses Vannifar to go over the top.
Edit-I have realized, in the meta, that Deputy of Detention is just SO good and that's something that Temur can't replicate that Bant has. I like my build because it can just win with any combination of threats but the Bant list does have better cheep creatures.
I think Bant does have slightly better creatures on the splash but I'm all about straight Temur Vannifar now. We don't have the glut of creature removal that Bant does but we do have some options like Ravanger Wurm and (to a lesser extent) Skarrgan Hellkite. But the biggest draw in Temur vs Bant is something that Bant just can't replicate: Rhythm of the Wild and Rekindling Phoenix (and maybe Squee!). Rhythm is such a big draw because it's a much-needed plan B, just Temur Monster beatdown. If you don't have Vannifar or she gets hated out, the deck can still just win games on its own. But with Vannifar it makes sure she A) Can't be countered and B) Has Haste. That's just too perfect for what Pod wants to do. Bant Vannifar has to slam her and pray. Then there's the Phoenix which is so stupidly good on its own and stupidly synergistic that it creates a reliable package that can just out grind most decks.
Right now I think Bant still has a better matchup against the aggro decks of the format, and that's something that pushes it to be favored if you're playing Bo1. But for those in paper or MTGO or Bo3 I think Temur will be the varient to beat. Here's my list.
I also like 4 Color lists, they can help the deck take on a solid toolbox. I'm going Temur with a Black splash for mine since most of the black cards I want only have one mana symbol. With druids and scouts and guides in the early game I'm not too worried about the mana and am gonna risk a basic 24 land deck to start. I really want to base the deck around Rhythm of the Wild as well, it can give Vannifar haste and just makes all the other already good creatures in the deck even better. I really wanted to find room for Electrodominance but decided that Incubation // Incongruity is just safer for now.
Saffron Olive has a combotastic take on Vannifar dinosaurs here. Marvelous!
I really like his list. It's janky but looks like a bunch of fun. I do think I'd try and find room for a few copies of Domri, Chaos Bringer. The deck needs a lot of pieces and Domri can find two of them with his -3, not to mention being able to help ramp into bigger dino's if combo isn't working out but beatdown is AND he can enable a hasty Vannifar to combo off right away. I think he's a slam dunk in this deck. I'd put two copies in and shave off 2 copies of Incubation // Incongruity
I'm not gonna beat around it. I'm excited for the possibility on Mono-Color decks possibly returning to standard. Mono-Green looks strong but in the last three or so days I've been all about the Black.
This was is my first base of a decklist. The last two slots are kind of debatable for me right now. If Cabal Stronghold ends up being good or very good and I want more mana sinks I could see Walking Ballista or Torment of Hailfire filling one or two of the slots. Planeswalkers like Liliana, Death's Majesty or the new Karn, Scion of Urza could try to round out to top end as well.
A 6/6 Flying Stick. Still, Rev was great because it was instant speed. This won't be format warping like it was last time. But he might be a good control finisher anyway.
I think the early news is out and the deck might be practically Ixalan block constructed but it's super aggresive.
The Standout cards seem to be the Huntmaster, Ripjaw, and Savage Stomp. I'm constructing my deck to say "Do you have an answer to my turn 2 dork? Yes? Fine. No? Good Luck.
I just want to turn 3 play a 3 drop and savage stomp or play a ripjaw raptor and swing with it right away. I don't think we want Longtusk Cub or cards that are great but better in different decks. My early testing and the video's of other pro's seems to point to "Play Dino's and Swing Early" alongside "Make sure you don't lose to Ramanup or Control".
No board yet but just an aggressive midrange deck playing all the best value in the jund colors. A bit weak to early removal but if out dorks untap or chandra lives a turn we can really take over.
The thing about Commune with Dinosaurs is it makes your deck more consistent. Turn one it can make sure you get your third or fourth land or get you that ripjaw you want to cast on turn 3 because you have a Drover or Huntmaster in hand. It digs 5 deep for that carnage tyrant you want and worst case, you dig 5 and get a land. But with a critical mass of dinosaurs this becomes our cantrip. It hasn't over performed for me, but decks not running it run less smoothly I've found.
I'm sticking with a more tribal based strategy. There have been two dinosaur decks on the starcitygames site and the deck that leaned heavier into the Tribe seemed more explosive to me. This deck wants to run a critical mass of Dinosaurs matter and a few flex slots to fill in the gaps.
The Dinosaurs we have a VERY good. Arguably, our tribe got the most attention in the set. Wizards wasn't playing around with Dinosaurs. Otepec Huntmaster has been an overperformer. His low bar is he eats removal or your draw him late game but he dodges Walking Ballista turn 2 and his high bar gives a static Discount on all but 2 of your creatures 3 mana or above AND gives them haste! Between him and Regisaur Alpha we have 8 ways to give dinosaurs haste! There's a part of me that wants to move Glorybringer to the maindeck but I just love the idea of Metallic Mimic and Regisaur Alpha. It's probably right to just maindeck the Dragons though. I like our Nut Draws too. Drover into Ripjaw, Huntmaster into Two Three Drops or into a Metallic Mimic and a three drop. We tilt a lot to removal but
The sideboard is mostly focused on control matchups but also to switch up the removal. You don't know what you need until you see the meta but we tilt to removal so the sideboard is to help against that.
2G
Uncommon
Creature - Elf Druid
Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, proliferate.
3/2
A mostly free way to proliferate hopefully 2-3~ times in a single turn, possibly ult-ing a planeswalker in one turn or trying to jank out Simic Ascendancy or something.
I'm trying to ult planeswalkers in Standard with a Bant Shell. Here's the first list off the top of my head:
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Growth Spiral
4 Evolution Sage
3 Dovin, Grand Arbiter
1 Teferi, Time Raveler
2 Scapeshift
4 Circuitous Route
2 Ixalan's Binding
2 Tatyova, Benthic Druid
4 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
4 Hydroid Krasis
2 March of the Multitudes
4 Breeding Pool
3 Temple Garden
2 Hallowed Fountain
4 Hinterland Harbor
3 Sunpetal Grove
2 Glacial Fortress
3 Forest
2 Island
1 Plains
Draw, Ramp, Walkers, Combo Pieces, and Ramp Payoffs as a Plan B. It probably needs actual tuning and likely gets run over by mono blue so I need to think about sideboard and tweaking the maindeck against the meta but I just wanted to get it down and see if other people were having similar thoughts.
Anyone else pondering a Lands deck in standard?
I think Bant vs Temur is building based on your preference offence or defence. I think the chance of getting Vannifar in Bant is MUCH higher because of Militia Bugler. It's such a good 3 drop, and is a good sac target for the 4 drop range. I think Shalai, Voice of Plenty and Unbreakable Formation along with Dive Down give plenty of good ways of protecting Vannifar and your board in general.
I think both are quite successful, though. It'll really depend on your local meta, or matchup. Rhythm of the Wild will make this deck so much better against Control, even if you're still pretty vulnerable to sweepers. I do think a hasted Vannifar turn 5 or so to suddenly cheat in a hasted Carnage Tyrant or something may be game over.
Have you had any consistency issues? It seems like you don't have a lot of ways of filtering for your necessary pieces. Vannifar is more vulnerable in your deck without Rhythm of the Wild.[/quote]I think a big difference is that my Temur build doesn't rely on Vannifar so we don't fret about finding her. Without her, the deck is still Temur monsters and you can win games without drawing Vannifar or even Rhythm. When you do draw one or both of those pieces though, the deck just explodes and can do crazy amounts of burst damage or just flood the board with powerful midrange threats. The Bant pod list is built to make sure you find and can protect Vannifar, the Temur build just uses Vannifar to go over the top.
Edit-I have realized, in the meta, that Deputy of Detention is just SO good and that's something that Temur can't replicate that Bant has. I like my build because it can just win with any combination of threats but the Bant list does have better cheep creatures.
Right now I think Bant still has a better matchup against the aggro decks of the format, and that's something that pushes it to be favored if you're playing Bo1. But for those in paper or MTGO or Bo3 I think Temur will be the varient to beat. Here's my list.
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Growth-Chamber Guardian
3 Incubation Druid
1 Kraul Harpooner
2 Elvish Rejuvenator
1 Exclusion Mage
1 Squee, the Immortal
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Gruul Spellbreaker
3 Rekindling Phoenix
1 Sunder Shaman
3 Prime Speaker Vannifar
3 Biogenic Ooze
1 Skarrgan Hellkite
1 Carnage Tyrant
2 Ravager Wurm
3 Rhythm of the Wild
1 Vivien Reid
LANDS
4 Stomping Ground
3 Rootbound Crag
4 Breeding Pool
3 Hinterland Harbor
3 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
2 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Island
3 Negate
4 Lava Coil
3 Frilled Mystic
1 Kraul Harpooner
2 Collision // Colossus
1 Kraul Foragers
1 Banefire
3 Prime Speaker Vannifar
3 Rhythm of the Wild
The Chain (27)
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Incubation Druid
2 Merfolk Branchwalker
1 Kraul Harpooner
1 Dire Fleet Daredevil
3 District Guide
1 Thrashing Brontodon
1 Midnight Reaper
1 Mirror Image
2 Frilled Mystic
2 Hostage Taker
1 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
3 Regisaur Alpha
1 Carnage Tyrant
1 Muldrotha, the Gravetide
2 Incubation // Incongruity
1 Find // Finality
The Lands (24)
4 Breeding Pool
3 Stomping Ground
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Hinterland Harbor
3 Rootbound Crag
2 Sulfur Falls
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Drowned Catacomb
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
4 Narcomoeba
2 Dream Eater
Spells (24)
3 Mission Briefing
4 Assassin's Trophy
4 Thought Erasure
4 Sinister Sabotage
4 Notion Rain
2 Chemister's Insight
2 Vraska's Contempt
4 Search for Azcanta
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Vraska, Relic Seeker
Lands (25)
4 Watery Grave
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Hinterland Harbor
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Woodland Cemetery
3 Island
2 Swamp
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Jadelight Ranger
4 Ravenous Chupacabra
3 Hostage Taker
4 Underrealm Lich
3 Dream Eater
4 Assassin's Trophy
4 Thought Erasure
2 Mausoleum Secrets
2 Vraska's Contempt
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Vraska, Relic Seeker
Lands (24)
4 Watery Grave
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Hinterland Harbor
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Woodland Cemetery
3 Forest
1 Island
Josu Vess, Lich Knight and Bad Coffers (which I think is still potentially very good) were tempting to start but today we go to see Dread Shade and I was all in.
The Dominaria cards are just the newest enablers but honestly Black has had a lot of power this past standard too. The best removals in Fatal Push and Vraska's Contempt, some powerful sideboard hate in Lost Legacy, Bontu's Last Reckoning, and Yahenni's Expertise. Through in cards like Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, Gifted Aetherborn, and Ravenous Chupacabra and you can see why I'm excited.
4 Dusk Legion Zealot
3 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Dread Shade
3 Ammit Eternal
4 Ravenous Chupacabra
2 Josu Vess, Lich Knight
1 Never // Return
3 Doomfall
2 Vraska's Contempt
21 Swamp
3 Cabal Stronghold
If Stronghold ends up being bad than the mana base can be revised with some Ifnir Deadlands, a Field of Ruin or two, a Scavenger Grounds and maybe some number of Desert of the Glorified. Right now I'm going to assume the Stonghold is good until testing proves it isn't.
Other possible deck inclusions as I see it could be:
- Fathom Fleet Captain
- Kitesail Freebooter
- Cast Down
- Gonti, Lord of Luxury
- Liliana's Mastery
- Twilight Prophet
- Walk the Plank
- Bontu's Monument
- Sadistic Skymarcher
- Yahenni, Undying Partisan
I'm excited to see if anybody else is brewing Mono-Black with me.The Standout cards seem to be the Huntmaster, Ripjaw, and Savage Stomp. I'm constructing my deck to say "Do you have an answer to my turn 2 dork? Yes? Fine. No? Good Luck.
4 Drover of the Mighty
3 Deathgorge Scavenger
2 Rampaging Ferocidon
2 Ranging Raptors
1 Rhonas the Indomitable
4 Ripjaw Raptor
3 Regisaur Alpha
1 Glorybringer
2 Carnage Tyrant
2 Commune with Dinosaurs
2 Magma Spray
3 Abrade
2 Savage Stomp
9 Forest
7 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Sheltered Thicket
2 Shapers' Sanctuary
2 Magma Spray
2 Carnage Tyrant
2 Burning Sun's Avatar
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Nissa, Vital Force
1 Savage Stomp
1 Heroic Intervention
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Channeler Initiate
3 Ammit Eternal
1 Rhonas, the Indomitable
4 Ripjaw Raptor
4 Glorybringer
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Vraska, Relic Seeker
4 Fatal Push
4 Abrade
2 Vraska's Contempt
2 Aether Hub
2 Blooming Marsh
1 Canyon Slough
3 Dragonskull Summit
4 Rootbound Crag
2 Sheltered Thicket
5 Forest
3 Swamp
2 Mountain
4 Otepec Huntmaster
4 Drover of the Mighty
2 Metallic Mimic
4 Rampaging Ferocidon
3 Deathgorge Scavenger
4 Ripjaw Raptor
4 Regisaur Alpha
3 Carnage Tyrant
3 Commune with Dinosaurs
3 Lightning Strike
2 Samut, the Tested
Lands (24)
4 Sheltered Thicket
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Unclaimed Territory
6 Forest
6 Mountain
3 Shapers' Sanctuary
4 Blossoming Defense
1 Carnage Tyrant
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Abrade
2 Glorybringer
3 Commune with Dinosaurs
4 Otepec Huntmaster
4 Drover of the Mighty
2 Metallic Mimic
Dinosaurs (18)
4 Rampaging Ferocidon
3 Deathgorge Scavenger
4 Ripjaw Raptor
4 Regisaur Alpha
3 Carnage Tyrant
3 Lightning Strike
2 Samut, the Tested
Curve
3 One Drops
13 Two Drops
7 Three Drops
6 Four Drops
4 Five Drops
3 Six Drops
The sideboard is mostly focused on control matchups but also to switch up the removal. You don't know what you need until you see the meta but we tilt to removal so the sideboard is to help against that.