2 Hatebears in the last SCG, but one is actually GW Taxes and I don't understand some choices in the other list... Dryad Arbor over Stirring Wildwood? The singleton Phyrexian Revoker?
Dryad arbor can be vialed in on turn 1 (vial at 0). Which provides pretty good mana ramp while still advancing your vial for tricks. Revoker seems to just be a catch-all that does some work against a lot of decks especially twin -- naming pestermite/deceiver/kiki/lavamancer.
I'm wondering how 1 or 2 of collected company would work in the deck. I find it works almost the same as Carrion Call but its better in that we could get infect creatures with abilities instead of 2 1/1 vanilla infect creatures. abilities in blighted agent or plague stinger.
It's almost strictly worse. Crunching the numbers, we don't run enough creatures to hit more than 1 creature most of the time. Sometimes we'll hit a hierarch or spellskite when we want infect creatures. Carrion Call does exactly what we want -- go wide with infect creatures.
Is this deck competitive playable without Noble Hierarch? I dont have 300$ to drop on a playset of these (75$ each). My list is pretty standard i've got everything except for the Hierarchs.
This question has been answered many many times in this thread. The answer is not really.
The 2 slots in question are the 2 Giant Growth currently in MB, I know they don't really cut it in U/G. I was thinking is it more worthwhile to replace them with 2 Gitaxian Probe or 2 Become Immense ?
I'm a fan of the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) mentality so want to focus on equal measures of what Infect needs - threats, pump, protection, land, making me think BI deserves the slot but what are peoples opinions on this?
Thanks!
I think become immense should always be paired with 8-9 fetches, 4x gitaxian probe and 4x mutagenic growth just for the graveyard fuel. I'm trying monastery siege as both protection and card filtering (depending on matchup) but this is going against your KISS principle I suppose.
Suppression Field is ultimately a meta call, as it's strength lies in combating planeswalkers, DRS, fetches, lavamancer, gavony, twin, vial decks, etc. Will also eat abrupt decays quite well. In an infect driven meta, I would advise against maining it, and probably use either a vial or more removal. As you probably know, blanking their spells on ourturn is normally the better decision. I would love melira, but she's very specific as far as hate goes.
I think it's fine to run 4x maindeck if your plan is to combo it with Leonin Arbiter and Knight of the Holy Nimbus. Unfortunately it's quite a non-bo with ghost quarter, tec edge, spellskite, stirring wildwood etc.
Infect folks, I'm curious about hearing you concerning Noble Hierarch: how do you consider it vital to the deck's success (like it couldn't be tier 1 without it)?
Absolutely. I wouldn't even play U/G infect if I couldn't run Noble Hierarchs.
Has anyone ever considered running a play set of City of Brass and possibly a play set of Gemstone Mine so that you can run four Assault Strobe. It is possible, in this case, to win on turn two (if your opponent doesnt play a turn 1 creature). And all you need is 3 cards in your hand to make it happen, an infect creature, a +4/+4 pump spell, and Assault Strobe. It works quite well and I suggest it.
I think it's merit have been discussed in this thread already. By itself it is +1/+1. At sorcery speed, it only presents lethal with coupled with another sorcery speed +4/+4 and the opponent cannot have blockers. The advantage of instant speed pump is that we can do it after opponents have declared no blockers.
Overall, it allows for more turn 2-3 kills but is easier for the opponent to play around. I would play Rancor with Assault strobe to at least force some damage through if the opponent has any sort of board presence.
If I see six lands in a row after T4 I'll be glad to put them all on the bottom of my library.
You're just as likely to see 6 non-lands in a row... and you don't have an option to keep any on top of your library. The next card you draw is still random.
Collected Company might just draw me back into playing this deck more. Can't be counted on to grab any particular hate, but being able to shovel out a couple creatures at once on the opponent's EOT (we aren't holding up mana for counters anyways) is sick, or just to stop from topdecking lands late-game. Don't see it as a 4-of though, 2-3 max.
I don't see how this stops you from topdecking lands.
Is that new Green hate card from the cycle of hate cards worth testing? It seems like a really good card as it protects from decay and kills Lilianas all day erry day.
I would rather play Celestial purge since it exiles -- matters slightly for goyf but more importantly it can hit a Keranos.
If there is a lot of abrupt decay, it might be worth sideboard consideration but I think valorous stance is more versatile and usable in more matchups.
I don't like Collected Company in this deck (without testing it, obv), and I don't think that it should be a 4-of... It doesn't solve any problems this deck has, it doesn't interect well with Thalia and Ghost Quarter, and you don't want more than 1 in your starting hand.
It can work as a bit of a 'gotcha' if you hit an Arbiter or mindcensor in response to search. Too bad hitting teeg/thalia/voice doesn't do anything in response to an opponent casting.
I'm not sure if we need collected company. Thalia makes this card realy high to cast. I think we need the new Anafenza.
The problem with the new Anafenza is that her effect doesn't do enough to play her over any of our current two drops. Leonin Arbiter and Thalia are just better. I can't think of anything else I'd remove from the main in order to try and fit her in either.
Agreed, although she does have a nice interaction with Kitchen Finks. But until there is a cheap white/artifact sac outlet, she's a slightly upgraded Melira in junk decks.
Definitely seems good. Sideboards and decks will have to warp around it a bit.
For example, I'll probably play Kataki in sideboard now over Creeping Corrosion.
We might even want to load up higher on the 3 CMC slot with brimaz, finks, crusader and reduce the number of 4/5 CMC bombs.
Notably they discuss the competitive REL rulings on paying Arbiter's cost. It's important to note this because people often fetch incorrectly with Leonin Arbiter in play. If they don't hold priority of pay for his cost before fetching, and you let the fetch resolve, it is too late for them to pay the cost and they've just stone rained themselves.
Dryad arbor can be vialed in on turn 1 (vial at 0). Which provides pretty good mana ramp while still advancing your vial for tricks. Revoker seems to just be a catch-all that does some work against a lot of decks especially twin -- naming pestermite/deceiver/kiki/lavamancer.
It's almost strictly worse. Crunching the numbers, we don't run enough creatures to hit more than 1 creature most of the time. Sometimes we'll hit a hierarch or spellskite when we want infect creatures. Carrion Call does exactly what we want -- go wide with infect creatures.
This question has been answered many many times in this thread. The answer is not really.
I think become immense should always be paired with 8-9 fetches, 4x gitaxian probe and 4x mutagenic growth just for the graveyard fuel. I'm trying monastery siege as both protection and card filtering (depending on matchup) but this is going against your KISS principle I suppose.
Mindcensor doesn't affect our fetches...
I think it's fine to run 4x maindeck if your plan is to combo it with Leonin Arbiter and Knight of the Holy Nimbus. Unfortunately it's quite a non-bo with ghost quarter, tec edge, spellskite, stirring wildwood etc.
Absolutely. I wouldn't even play U/G infect if I couldn't run Noble Hierarchs.
I think it's merit have been discussed in this thread already. By itself it is +1/+1. At sorcery speed, it only presents lethal with coupled with another sorcery speed +4/+4 and the opponent cannot have blockers. The advantage of instant speed pump is that we can do it after opponents have declared no blockers.
Overall, it allows for more turn 2-3 kills but is easier for the opponent to play around. I would play Rancor with Assault strobe to at least force some damage through if the opponent has any sort of board presence.
You're just as likely to see 6 non-lands in a row... and you don't have an option to keep any on top of your library. The next card you draw is still random.
I don't see how this stops you from topdecking lands.
I would rather play Celestial purge since it exiles -- matters slightly for goyf but more importantly it can hit a Keranos.
If there is a lot of abrupt decay, it might be worth sideboard consideration but I think valorous stance is more versatile and usable in more matchups.
It can work as a bit of a 'gotcha' if you hit an Arbiter or mindcensor in response to search. Too bad hitting teeg/thalia/voice doesn't do anything in response to an opponent casting.
Agreed, although she does have a nice interaction with Kitchen Finks. But until there is a cheap white/artifact sac outlet, she's a slightly upgraded Melira in junk decks.
For example, I'll probably play Kataki in sideboard now over Creeping Corrosion.
We might even want to load up higher on the 3 CMC slot with brimaz, finks, crusader and reduce the number of 4/5 CMC bombs.
Opposing spellskite and the rare wall of omens/doran.
Notably they discuss the competitive REL rulings on paying Arbiter's cost. It's important to note this because people often fetch incorrectly with Leonin Arbiter in play. If they don't hold priority of pay for his cost before fetching, and you let the fetch resolve, it is too late for them to pay the cost and they've just stone rained themselves.