I use Mono U Tezz as a Finisher mostly and Thassa as my secondary Finisher. Gargadon is relegated to the back seat. Testing with BfZ Gideon has been positive, though there have been a few times where making Allies has bit me.
I like to keep a diverse set of threats so my opponent can really only hate on the core of the gameplan.
If you think Borderposts don't affect hand size that ok, but in most case you have more hand than opponent because most spell in this deck cost atleast3 mana.
Without trying to be combatative here, you are 95% wrong here. You would find me hard pressed to have more cards in hand than most decks, barring Affinity.
Nahiri, the Harbinger is very compact. She does a lot of things, but you want to build Emrakul into her shell if she survives and Ult, then the +2 can dump Emrakul and shuffle again.
So I rebuilt this deck for fun for a weekly and lost only to Jund that got out double Planeswalkers. Other than Beast Within is there any other way we can easily answer Planeswalkers?
For everyone playing with or against Restore Balance on MTGO:
If you encounter the bug where you can't discard cards, wiggle on the stop for priority arrows...
Uh wut? No really, what does this mean? I know you can set stops but how do you "wiggle" on the arrows?
Also, I run Blood Moon in the side of my current build. It's much better with either Perplex or Idyllic Tutor to fetch it up.
In one game, I brought it in against Bogles and landed it Turn 1. Didn't need to Balance the whole game.
I'm pretty sure Conduit is the card that Joe Lossett said was a mistake in his interview. He boarded it out every single game and regretted putting it in his deck.
I might have mixed that up in my brain, but I'm pretty sure that was the card he was talking about when he made that statement.
EDIT: I was thinking about this last night and now I'm wondering if the Spy Network will mess up our Balances. If they have a creature we need to wrath away, our tokens will let them keep it alive unless we have a Gargadon to sac all the tokens to...Is this that big of an issue?
For those of you wondering abot Riftwing Cloudskate:
1.) Pseudo-Removal, bouncing permanents that are difficult to deal with. Forcing a discard right after by Balancing is great.
2.) Bounce Ardent Plea, Cascade again for value.
3.) Evasive and gets big with Ardent Plea.
I guess turn 1 boarder posting isn't worth the 1 life?
You can T1 Borderpost by ditching a Simian Spirit Guide. All-in-all it just nets you one less card in hand. You can just ditch that Simian Spirit Guide to go off on T2 anyway, if required. Bar none, you aren't doing anything T1 unless you have the super duper draw, and can't wait for a decent payoff.
I would suggest true fetches if you were running a more three colour reliant deck in that you can get perfect cross over for three colours using 6 fetches. It's not ideal.
The real hobble to this deck is having a distinct lack of a couple of much needed off colour combo Borderposts. If we had those it would open up the deck in many appealing ways as far as mana distribution goes.
The Planeswalkers I favour right now Are Tezz, Seeker and Gideon, Ally. Third on the list is Ajani Vengeant.
Just as a personal note for those who don't want to comb through the thread here are the variants and different tech angles I have tested:
- Hypergeometric Base Model of 8 Cascader, 16 Posts, 12 Land Build: The build is fine on paper as far as making sure the engine went off without a hitch. I did end up raising the land count to make it more reliable, while simultaneously lowering the Borderpost count. The rationale for fewer Borderposts was the lack of threat/finisher density required to actually close out games. Replacing Borderposts with finishers increased win rate.
- Idyllic Tutor Build: A heavy on enchantments using mostly March of the Machines/Thassa, God of the Sea/Blood Moon as finishers. It was okay, but often the tutor would get countered and you were left holding useless cards where the tutor would have gotten you the piece you needed. It was basically a trap in thinking hands were keep able because you had the tutor in hand. If I were to go back, I would just replace the tutor with a finisher one could naturally draw into.
- Perplex Build: Perplex worked well as a tutor for 3 CMC cards. The tutor was nigh impossible to counter since it is an ability of the card and not a spell. The reliance on B made the card difficult to play effectively. The other downside was that this build used irregular or not as effective finishers such as Simic Keyrune which is a really slow clock and had the negative effect of being even more susceptible to Stony Silence. Regardless this build had some sweet tech like Blood Moon and Bow of Nylea.
- Jund Build: This build tossed out as much of the U and W as possible. It just doesn't have the finishers and Demonic Dread is unreliable without a Dryad Arbor in the list. This build was just awful. If anyone else wants to take a crack at it, I would love to hear what your results are.
Is the tech these a 2-3 Leyline of the Void? I maindeck two Faerie Macabre already, but find it doesn't always do it.
Had some really hilarious matches against some Blood Moon decks. Living End just shrugs that off.
I like to keep a diverse set of threats so my opponent can really only hate on the core of the gameplan.
Without trying to be combatative here, you are 95% wrong here. You would find me hard pressed to have more cards in hand than most decks, barring Affinity.
I agree, though she does naturally lend herself to Emrakul cheats. Her ult is fine for Gargadon too.
She loots, shoots and scoops.
Anguished Unmaking and Hero's Downfall
Both are off colour for the natural colours this deck wants to run.
Uh wut? No really, what does this mean? I know you can set stops but how do you "wiggle" on the arrows?
Also, I run Blood Moon in the side of my current build. It's much better with either Perplex or Idyllic Tutor to fetch it up.
In one game, I brought it in against Bogles and landed it Turn 1. Didn't need to Balance the whole game.
Yes, you worry about it Game 2 if your opponent is playing White.
Bring in 4x Wispmare and fetch for a basic plains T1, every time.
Got wrecked by 8Rack last FNM. It is what it is. He did the old T3 3x Rack after a hard mulligan.
I tweeted him this the other day.
He suggested it may still be worth exploring.
Recently Joe Lossett and a MTGO user CoolMrFrosty has been putting up good numbers with it.
Not a problem unless the creature has trample.
1.) Pseudo-Removal, bouncing permanents that are difficult to deal with. Forcing a discard right after by Balancing is great.
2.) Bounce Ardent Plea, Cascade again for value.
3.) Evasive and gets big with Ardent Plea.
Those are why some people play it.
You can T1 Borderpost by ditching a Simian Spirit Guide. All-in-all it just nets you one less card in hand. You can just ditch that Simian Spirit Guide to go off on T2 anyway, if required. Bar none, you aren't doing anything T1 unless you have the super duper draw, and can't wait for a decent payoff.
I would suggest true fetches if you were running a more three colour reliant deck in that you can get perfect cross over for three colours using 6 fetches. It's not ideal.
The real hobble to this deck is having a distinct lack of a couple of much needed off colour combo Borderposts. If we had those it would open up the deck in many appealing ways as far as mana distribution goes.
The Planeswalkers I favour right now Are Tezz, Seeker and Gideon, Ally. Third on the list is Ajani Vengeant.
- Hypergeometric Base Model of 8 Cascader, 16 Posts, 12 Land Build: The build is fine on paper as far as making sure the engine went off without a hitch. I did end up raising the land count to make it more reliable, while simultaneously lowering the Borderpost count. The rationale for fewer Borderposts was the lack of threat/finisher density required to actually close out games. Replacing Borderposts with finishers increased win rate.
- Idyllic Tutor Build: A heavy on enchantments using mostly March of the Machines/Thassa, God of the Sea/Blood Moon as finishers. It was okay, but often the tutor would get countered and you were left holding useless cards where the tutor would have gotten you the piece you needed. It was basically a trap in thinking hands were keep able because you had the tutor in hand. If I were to go back, I would just replace the tutor with a finisher one could naturally draw into.
- Perplex Build: Perplex worked well as a tutor for 3 CMC cards. The tutor was nigh impossible to counter since it is an ability of the card and not a spell. The reliance on B made the card difficult to play effectively. The other downside was that this build used irregular or not as effective finishers such as Simic Keyrune which is a really slow clock and had the negative effect of being even more susceptible to Stony Silence. Regardless this build had some sweet tech like Blood Moon and Bow of Nylea.
- Jund Build: This build tossed out as much of the U and W as possible. It just doesn't have the finishers and Demonic Dread is unreliable without a Dryad Arbor in the list. This build was just awful. If anyone else wants to take a crack at it, I would love to hear what your results are.
So now I am at a cross roads where I have been testing new tech. Bring to Light and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar seem like good fits for the deck as does Ghirapur Æther Grid. Self admittedly, Ghirapur Æther Grid seems like sideboard tech for decks like Affinity. I am not sold as to whether it is better than Ingot Chewer in the long run.
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar has been really promising.
I feel like at this moment a good shell for testing will be 8 Cascader, 12 Posts, 13 Lands.
I have been waffling on dig cards too. It feels bad when you have a dig spell in hand but it could have just been a finisher.