Okay, so unlike the gaea's cradle knock-off, this one is actually kind of legit. In addition to being a rainbow land if you need help color fixing, this is much easier to flip and the mana is in a color that you can actually use it in. Heck, the fun curve from marvel works here. Curving a Woodweaver's puzzleknot into a whirler virtuoso into this on turn 4 flips it immediately, gives you seven mana to do stufflikethis, and gives nine to twelve mana to play with on turn five.
I think this deck wants to move into espser after rotation, focusing more on refurbishing the gift into play rather then trying to trigger gate. Gate just feels much harder to turn on in the face of some of these cards from ixalan, especially Scavenging dino. It also means you have fewer dead cards after a potential dispossess, as refurbishing a gearhulk is still a very nice play. The refurbish plan is also easier to turn on with the huge increase in looting effects. Moreover, the black cards from ixalan feel like they're tailer made for this deck. Kitesail Freebooter, Hostage Taker, Durress, Noxious Gearhulk, Liliana, and Archfiend of ifner are all fantasic potential inclusions to the deck if you add in black.
As long as T. Gearhulk is in standard, this will probably see play as a two of in control decks. The real advantage to this card is letting you tap mana for a planeswalker and still hold up a decent amount of mana for other counterspells. Granted, its effectiveness is format dependent, and we really have no clue what the post ixalan meta will look like, at all.
This is already really easy to set up. I mean the curve of this into one of 8 three mana land ramp spells into hour of promise means this can come on line as early as turn 4 in a ramp deck, and their are some scary dinosaurs running around that ramp can take advantage of.
Disregarding the flavor, artwork, and originality of this card, all of which are home runs by the way, lets look at the general power of this card. The frontside is a lot of work, but the back side of this card really is worth it. You're spending five mana over the course of three turns for a black lotus effect tied to a pseudo library of alexandria. That's really really sweet.
I remember someone commenting that the end of the map would be black lotus on the art for this card. He said it as a joke, but he was honestly pretty close to being right.
I don't watch the pro tour until after I fast-forward through all the adds and other boring crap I don't care about. Not to mention it's in Japan so it's on really early. As it sits though, mono red putting up a good record isn't surprising. I see red all the time on magic online.
Went 4-1 with the below list in a competitive league on mtgo. Wasn't really liking how the all in u/w version went against disruption, as it seemed like the kind of deck that would get crucified if people actually cared enough to sideboard for it. Considering the deck won a ptq, that seemed likely.
I have yet to have mana problems, despite being four colors. That being said, the hour's in the sideboard are probably gonna be replaced by something for ramp. What, I don't know, but ramp was what I lost to.
For the more traditional grind-fest midrange versions of the deck what has been your plan for monument? I've been struggling hard core with this match-up and I'm really not sure how to approach it.
Damn, that's impressive. A very easy activation requirement to meet in older formats, not to mention that fourth point of toughness means it lives through bolt. Also pretty nice in standard if you can set it up.
I haven't played fate foretold in my midrange shell, but I've been testing a bant midrange deck online and have had no problems with mana. This is the land breakdown.
With 4 Channeler Initiate and 4 Rogue Refiner, I bounce back and fourth on whether I like Initiate or Servant of the conduit more. Ultimately though, I like that initiate can plop the counters on a thraben inspector, trigger avacyn, and live through avacyns flip, or just work to cast a turn 3 vizier or tamiyo.
This is a list I've been toying around with, but I'm not sure if it's better to make my mana worse to explore the options a third color gives me. It's more focused on the free cycling matters cards. The complete and total removal of glimmer of genius from the main deck was an experiment that I've found to produce positive results, as I generally seem to cycle through my deck well enough to find pull from tomorrow, so I've found that I don't really need it.
I know It's a very different list to what's been postulated before, but after seeing the results of the pro-tour, I thought that a build that had more then gearhulk for closing power might be the way to go. I'm slightly concerned about leaving myself open to gideon, but having the flyers makes me slightly less terrified of it.
The third color that I'm thinking of splashing is Red over White, but Red seems more color intensive. Grasp would be swapped for harnessed, but I'd still probably need 15 sources of red and black while keeping 18 blue to support the cards I want, as some of the best red cards for a deck like this would be double red at five and six (Glorybringer and chandra) It's possible, but makes the mana slower and clunkier. White's an easier splash, but I find that the only card I want from white is cast out and spell quellers from the board (and maybe angel of sanctions, but again, double white Is just as annoying as double red), which half makes me think it isn't worth making the mana worse.
I've been tinkering for a bit, so I thought I'd bring the list in to get you guy's opinion on it. Do the people that splash white think the white splash is actually worth it, and do you think a cycle heavy build like mine might have more or less traction in the current meta?
I'm cool with that. I kind of think the third party ban list is a bad joke. That sol ring, mana vault, and mana crypt have skated since inception is horrifically moronic, <snip> totally uncalled for The idiotic chaff that's on the third party ban list (which I don't understand why it even exists in the first place, if you're gonna play a casual format for fun, make your own banlist for it among your play group) makes me giggle. Wotc's banlist actually makes since, and if you're going to play in an mtgo sanctioned tournament where you win stuff (YES!), then WOTC should be the one to make the banlist.
I'd also welcome a banlist for paper commander events, as again, going to a wotc sanctioned fnm commander event where the banlist is designed by a third party is stupid beyond logical comprehension.
If bolas doesn't wipe the floor with the gatewatch I'm gonna be pissed. It shouldn't even be close. Here's hoping he kills gideon before they flee the world to lick their wounds.
I will be the first to agree that mono red players have been given the shaft recently, alongside the U control decks. The thing is, I'm not sure if the lack of mono red makes a different, simply because of how stupidly aggressive mardu can be. Mardu is just as aggressive as any mono red deck, but they have a better late game. I don't if red being better would make a difference, as any good mono red cards can just be absorbed into mardu.
This is not going to be pretty.
I love that WOTC is just going down the list of artifact hate cards rather then just go for the lands.
I remember someone commenting that the end of the map would be black lotus on the art for this card. He said it as a joke, but he was honestly pretty close to being right.
4x Aether Hub
4x Botanical Sanctum
2x Inspiring Vantage
2x Wandering Fumarole
2x Fortified Village
2x Sheltered Thicket
3x Forest
1x Plains
1x Mountain
1x Island
Instant
4x Attune with Aether
2x Lightning Axe
4x Abrade
2x Cathartic Reunion
2x Refurbish
Creatures
4x Servant of the Conduit
4x Champion of wits
4x Rogue Refiner
2x Whirler Virtuoso
4x Angel of Invention
1x Linvala, the Preserver
Artifact
3x God-Pharaoh's Gift
Planeswalker
2x Kiora, Master of Depths
4x Jace's Defeat
2x Negate
2x Crook of Condemnation
1x Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
2x Appetite for the Unnatural
2x Radiant Flames
2x Hour of Devestation
I have yet to have mana problems, despite being four colors. That being said, the hour's in the sideboard are probably gonna be replaced by something for ramp. What, I don't know, but ramp was what I lost to.
4 Botannical Sanctum
4 Fortified Village
4 Irrigated Farmland
4 Aether Hub
3 Forest
3 Plains
With 4 Channeler Initiate and 4 Rogue Refiner, I bounce back and fourth on whether I like Initiate or Servant of the conduit more. Ultimately though, I like that initiate can plop the counters on a thraben inspector, trigger avacyn, and live through avacyns flip, or just work to cast a turn 3 vizier or tamiyo.
1x Liliana, Death's Majesty
4x Archfiend of Ifnir
4x Hieroglyphic Illumination
4x Curator of Mysteries
2x Commit
2x Disallow
2x Complete Disregard
1x Pull from Tomorrow
2x Negate
4x Grasp of Darkness
4x Censor
4x Fatal Push
6x Swamp
4x Sunken Hollow
6x Island
4x Fetid Pools
4x Choked Estuary
This is a list I've been toying around with, but I'm not sure if it's better to make my mana worse to explore the options a third color gives me. It's more focused on the free cycling matters cards. The complete and total removal of glimmer of genius from the main deck was an experiment that I've found to produce positive results, as I generally seem to cycle through my deck well enough to find pull from tomorrow, so I've found that I don't really need it.
I know It's a very different list to what's been postulated before, but after seeing the results of the pro-tour, I thought that a build that had more then gearhulk for closing power might be the way to go. I'm slightly concerned about leaving myself open to gideon, but having the flyers makes me slightly less terrified of it.
The third color that I'm thinking of splashing is Red over White, but Red seems more color intensive. Grasp would be swapped for harnessed, but I'd still probably need 15 sources of red and black while keeping 18 blue to support the cards I want, as some of the best red cards for a deck like this would be double red at five and six (Glorybringer and chandra) It's possible, but makes the mana slower and clunkier. White's an easier splash, but I find that the only card I want from white is cast out and spell quellers from the board (and maybe angel of sanctions, but again, double white Is just as annoying as double red), which half makes me think it isn't worth making the mana worse.
I've been tinkering for a bit, so I thought I'd bring the list in to get you guy's opinion on it. Do the people that splash white think the white splash is actually worth it, and do you think a cycle heavy build like mine might have more or less traction in the current meta?
I'd also welcome a banlist for paper commander events, as again, going to a wotc sanctioned fnm commander event where the banlist is designed by a third party is stupid beyond logical comprehension.