The printing of Kefnet the Mindful reminded me of an old pet card of mine, Magus of the Library. I've been trying for a couple of days to brew something up with him, and would love any input or new ideas.
Obviously Magus of the Library wants us to play with a full hand (which implies a control deck to me), but he also accelerates the deck on a 2->4 scheme. Here's some initial thoughts I've had:
4 Magus of the Library - This card is a must, it's the whole reason for the brew.
3-4 Yeva, Nature's Herald - I like that this won't die to Lightning Bolt, and is a turn 3 end step play after Magus. I dislike that it's Legendary and only gives flash to green creatures (although I'm not hating mono-green).
Some number of Beast Within - Very solid catch-all removal with a downside that can be easily chewed up by creatures in a green deck.
Some number of Chord of Calling - It's an Instant, it's green, it does something awesome. Probably want some Chord of Calling here.
Possibly Oath of Nissa? It's very good card filtering and could allow for a relatively painless splash for second color (if it's for a planeswalker).
Any help with this brewing would be appreciated! I'm too indecisive with this brew to get a good start. I think I want to stay mono-green (although now that Colorless is basically a 6th color, spells requiring colorless could easily be worked into the deck), and the deck wants to have a relatively high density of cantrips and flash/instants. Beyond that I'm still very much in the infancy of the brewing process with this deck.
I would say the answer is debatably yes, and here's why:
1) You're actually casting these big fatties, not just cheating them into play. The casting triggers on each Eldrazi is pretty back-breaking, but here's a raw comparison
Ulamog 1.0 = Destroy 1 Permanent
Ulamog 2.0 = Exile 2 Permanents
Kozilek 1.0 = Draw 4 Cards
Kozilek 2.0 = Draw between 0 and 7 cards, but guarantees with Kozilek 2.0 on the stack you have a 7-card hand
Emrakul 1.0 = Time Walk + Annihilator
Emrakul 2.0 = Mindslaver + Trample
In my mind, you should basically always upgrade Ulamog to The Ceaseless Hunger, unless Annihilator is that important to you. Kozilek is your choice, but I personally think 2.0 is the best option. In a deck that's playing a 10-drop, you probably were down to 1-3 cards in hand when you cast him, making him draw you 4+ cards. And he protects himself (via countermagic) and has evasion (via Menace), whereas 1.0 just has evasion (via Annihilator). Emrakul is the toughest choice. Emrakul 1.0 basically wins the game on the spot, but even for a big mana deck it takes a bit to get to 15 mana. Conversely, Emrakul 2.0 is more likely to get cast for 10-12 mana due to the diversity of cards in your deck and the interactivity of Legacy. That means that even though she's arguably weaker, you're more likely to get your Mindslaver. And once she resolves, protection from Instants is quite strong in Legacy. As is flying and trample. I think you should try piloting the deck and see how games play out. Nothing works better than solid playtesting data.
At the very least, there are two answers (there can be more):
1) If you are trying to play at highly competitive events, this deck needs a complete overhaul and will be much different in composition than it is now.
2) If you are not trying to play at highly competitive events, this deck can play locally with some small tweaks and at the kitchen table with none.
That said, if you are dedicated to the following elements:
Big Eldrazi titans (the OG 3, it appears) being hardcast instead of cheated into play
Big Mana
Colorless Mana only
Legacy format
and you want to develop this for a reasonable level of competitive play (you won't crush an SCG Open, but you also won't be totally embarassed by the deck), then there are some changes you can make without sacrificing your core vision.
First, your land base:
12 Tron lands - Out
8 Post package - I'll leave in, but it's weak in my opinion.
In -
+3 Eldrazi Temple - For what you want to do, this card is nuts. 2 Colorless mana, drawback free.
+2 Eye of Ugin - Yes, it's Legendary, but you really want one and Expedition Map is slow. Go up to 3 and never look back.
+4 Ancient Tomb - It will impact your life total, but it will power out Eldrazi.
+4 Vesuva - This is the other 4 in the typical 12-Post package. In a pinch, they also become Eldrazi Temples. A solid card.
+1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Disgustingly good with Eye of Ugin, and allows you to tap Ancient Tomb for B if you only need one mana but really need to not spend 2 life.
New land count: 24 (12 post, 4 E Temple, 4 A Tomb, 3 Eye, 1 Urborg)
Now play 4 of each of the 1 mana artifacts. You need Pithing Needle on Wasteland in basically every game, you can stack Amulet of Vigor triggers to get tons of mana (put each trigger on the stack and in response to each tap the lands for mana again), and Expedition Map is always good for colorless land search.
You probably want 2 copies of All Is Dust. I would be shocked if you really want the 3rd.
Consider playing a few Warping Wail, it's quite versatile and good.
Cut most of your Eldrazi, and try to fit in:
4 Thought-Knot Seer - He's a big body with a good disruptive effect you can power out early.
3-4 Kozilek's Channeler - This is an Eldrazi that's immune to Lightning Bolt, comes down early, and pushes you towards your big mana goals.
some number of Conduit of Ruin and/or Oblivion Sower. Eldrazi Temple + Eye of Ugin + Ancient Tomb should make it easy to power these guys out while you build up 12-Post, and they help advance you to your endgame.
Also, as much as you love Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, I would say that Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger is a huge improvement for a deck's ability to stabilize, and would include one.
So your deck would look something like this after these tweaks:
I slotted in Reality Smasher for greater board presence early in the game here as well, then realized you have no way to pull out of a top-deck scenario so I added a Sea Gate Wreckage you can search up with Expedition Map.
A big part of competitive play is knowing what you are playing against. Pithing Needle is better if you know to name cards like Wasteland, JTMS, LoTV, etc. Warping Wail is better if you know what creatures if hits and what sorceries matter.
1) How Serious - Do you play at the kitchen table, at local tournaments, or do you travel for large competitive events such as SCG Opens or TCGPlayer Invitationals?
2) How to Deal with Established Decks - This question presupposes that you play at a level beyond the kitchen table. In competitive Magic, there are powerful well-established deck archetypes which have been developed by groups of people over time and are make regular appearances at the top tables of large competitive events. For Legacy format this includes Stoneblade variants, Storm, Infect, Shardless Sultai, Colorless Eldrazi (more on that in a moment)and other such high-powered decks.
I'm operating under the assumption you do not play large competitive events. If you do, you'll want to do a Starcitygames.com decklist database search for Legacy decks including Eye of Ugin. That will give you an idea of the big mana strategies currently favored in Legacy. As a first step, I'd point out how bad Tron is in Legacy. You are attempting to assemble 3 distinct lands in a format that is utterly dominated by Wasteland, and your plan to beat Wasteland appears to be "pray it doesn't show up, or that I drew Pithing Needle and resolved it and kept it in play", both of which are risky. A similarly fragile big mana deck (12-Post) runs 4 Pithing Needles in the main just to try and stop Wasteland. Unfortunately, the ubiquity of Abrupt Decay makes that play less viable than it used to be. Most big mana Eldrazi decks choose to either run 4x Ancient Tomb alongside 4x Eldrazi Temple and multiple Eye of Ugin and City of Traitors to virtually guarantee that their mana production goes 2 to 4 to 6 colorless available turns 1-3. This powers out threats like Thought-Knot Seer on turn 2. This is in addition to disruption, usually provided by a play of turn 1 Ancient Tomb to cast Chalice of the Void on 1, which is a frequently back-breaking play in Legacy. Other disruption typically includes Trinisphere or Thorn of Amethyst.
To be quite blunt, cards like Hedron Matrix and Eldrazi Conscription are not playable at the competitive level. They do not immediately impact the game state, but rather require you to already have a creature in play, and they cost insane amounts of mana. I understand you expect to have lots of mana available, but bear in mind that the nature of competitive Magic is disruption. Your opponent will likely lead with something like turn 1 Island into Delver of Secrets (threatening Daze) or hold it up threatening Spell Pierce and/or Daze for your turn 1 play. Turn 2 they follow with Wasteland, keeping you clipped to 1 land effectively. These aren't random ideas either, the top levels of Legacy play frequently involve early turns with this much disruption. Jund can easily hit you with turn 1 Thoughtseize, turn 2 Hymn to Tourach, turn 3 Liliana of the Veil (so can Pox).
Starcitygames.com (amongst other sites such as TCGplayer.com and Channelfireball.com) can give you an idea what the top decks are in a format. There was just a Legacy event a week and a half ago in Baltimore where Colorless Eldrazi did well. Here's that decklist, which took 16th place:
And here's the top performing Legacy lists from that event:
Hope that this was somewhat helpful and gives you an idea how pro-level players construct colorless decks for Legacy play.
EDIT: It has been a while since a big-mana deck put up really good results. Most Eldrazi are playing the mid-range stuff like Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher. You will likely need to find an older list as a starting point, either a 12-Post list or a MUD list or something, as the sol-land big mana decks seem to keep their curve lower than the Eldrazi Titans.
With regards to Norn, the first thing to be aware of is that in lore, the Praetors were already expanding into other colors. Jin-Gitaxias had been learning some kind of necromancy/soothsaying from Sheoldred (so he had started to dip into black) and was actively commiserating with Elesh Norn (so he was likely beginning to look into white as well). Norn's time with Jin-Gitaxias exposed her to the idea of other worlds, is it such a stretch to think that over time she's picked up some blue-based magic from him?
The second thing to bear in mind is this: Norn is leader of a group that believes in (literally, to some extent) bringing everything into the fold. We know in the lore she's already defeated Urabrask and Sheoldred. I don't believe it's that much of a stretch to think that there's a logical progression to her conquest that includes assimilating useful characteristics from the fallen. After all, repurposing on Phyrexia is a holy duty. So that would put her into R and B as well. So at that point she's W, a little U, and has some R and B. It's just a little further stretch to put her into Green as well.
There's also the fact that they (the Phyrexians) had a Mono-B god before. I could have swung things back and made her their Mono-W god (nominally female as well, so essentially an inversion of the nominally male Mono-B god), but it didn't sit right with me. Yawgmoth was a god of black mana because that's all the mana Phyrexia had available. New Phyrexia has all 5 colors, so I personally believe that any Praetor to ascend to godhood would have to incorporate all 5 colors.
But I can certainly see a strong argument for her remaining Mono-W. I guess the questions there are:
Do you incorporate the devotion mechanic (and the Legendary Enchantment Creature formatting) if you go with Mono-W god version of Elesh Norn?
How do you alter her stats (CMC, P/T, abilities) to reflect her mono-white godhood?
Do you assume other Praetors have ascended to take on the old domains of Urabrask, Sheoldred, and (post-ascension) Elesh Norn? If not, why? If so, who?
As for the other cards, void_nothing, they aren't mine. Honestly they don't even make sense to me from a lore-based perspective. Sheoldred and Urabrask are gone, Elesh Norn defeated them and assumed control of their domains. That was made very clear in the lore. So I can't understand how there even is a "Sheoldred's Hand" or "Urabrask's Fury". For those to make sense, this set would occur during the conflict between Praetors and not after Elesh Norn's victory (which I posit led to her ascension). I also don't care for the return of the proliferate mechanic, which I associate with conquering an unspoiled world. New Phyrexia is compleated, there isn't a great connection in my mind between that mechanic and the state of things on the plane now. Infect makes more sense, as that is a characteristic of Phyrexians which there is no reason to downplay. I would save Proliferate for a later set, one featuring the Phyrexians invading a new plane (for the first time since conquering Mirrodin and compleating it).
That said, I like the concept behind Vorinclex's Pet. From my perspective, it would be Glissa's Pet though. Or Vorinclex's Remnant. Since I killed Vorinclex in my fanfic prologue (a decision I based on the fact that Vorinclex was already defending his territory from Glissa's machinations in NPH, and that I feel he would submit to Norn as Gitaxias did once he saw what Norn had done to Urabrask and Sheoldred). But I like seeing higher-CMC, higher P/T infect creatures. With Trample it would have been over the top at U (but totally playable as R). With any kind of positive tweak (an ETB ability, mild protection of some kind, or a way to generate CA if it dies) that could easily be done with all the original stats (6/6 infect trample for 4GG) as a Mythic. So I would think:
Vorinclex's Remnant4GG{M}
Infect, Trample
Vorinclex's Remnant must be blocked if able.
When Vorinclex's Remnant leaves the battlefield, you may search your library for a creature card with infect and converted mana cost of 3 or less and put it on the battlefield. Then shuffle your library. Smaller scavengers follow in their wake, snatching up any bits that have been left behind.
6/6
The other thing I'm aiming for here is a more heavily multicolored set. I've very much wanted to see some multicolored phyrexian spells, multicolored infect creatures, and multicolored artifacts. I took the creation of Ezuri, Claw of Progress as a sign that with no remaining external enemies except for Koth on the plane, the Phyrexians were beginning to bleed into each other's domains. Elves and creatures from The Tangle ending up in Progress Engine laboratories, Furnace Layer creatures being sutured together with new porcelain plates by the Machine Orthodoxy, etc.
All that said, I'm enjoying the discussion these started. It's interesting to see how other people conceive of what's been occurring on NPH and what sort of cards they'd produce for a new NPH set.
Also this is a great excuse to practice on GIMP, and get better at making custom cards.
Well, you aren't wrong about planeswalkers generally not getting better for less mana. But then, there isn't any other 'walker like Koth. In the lore, after forcing Elspeth to leave, he was (as I understand it) the last non-Phyrexian left on New Phyrexia. One man against a world, literally. I'd say it's reasonable that someone so insanely tough would be able to show up, immediately summon help (or a slagstorm), then follow up the next turn by summoning something nuts like a massive fireball or Karn/Ugin. I justified it to myself in creation with a highly restrictive mana cost, though I doubt that justifies it in the least.
Objectively speaking, you are probably right in assessing it as massively overpowered for a +1. A change to "add R" would probably be much more balanced.
Still, I'm doing these more as fanboy service to one of my all-time favorite storylines than I am as cards meant to see play. I dunno that I'll actually go back and make changes to these.
EDIT: My wife just pointed out that Elesh Norn makes herself an 8/8 infect indestructible the way I have it worded. Also obviously overpowered.
So over in the writing section, I'm doing a fan fic. And here I'm doing the cards for it. Wheeee!!!
Koth, Battle HardenedRRR
Planeswalker - Koth {M}
+1: Add R to your mana pool for each Mountain you control.
-2: Koth, Battle Hardened deals damage to target creature or planeswalker equal to the number of Mountains you control.
-6: Koth, Battle Hardened deals X damage to each opponent and each creature your opponent's control, where X is equal to twice the number of Mountains you control.
Starting Loyalty: 3
Elesh Norn, Mother of MachinesWUBRG
Legendary Creature - Praetor God {M}
Indestructible
Creatures you control get +1/+1 and have infect.
Creatures your opponents control get -1/-1, lose infect, and can't have or gain infect. All hail the Mother of Machines
7/7
For some reason I can't get my images to load properly, so I've attached the card image file. More to come in the future.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll need to review and rewrite later, I suppose, to clarify Koth's thoughts on Tezzeret (the feeling of half-expecting him but being unsurprised that Tezzeret was shrewd enough to exit New Phyrexia rather than stay for the coronation) and possibly to redo the opening framing. Although, if I'm being honest, I'd rather expand it further than chop it down. Koth's experience in the throne room, particularly the witnessing of a compleated Venser and the revelation that he intends to rebuild the old Phyrexian tools for traversing the planes, is crucial to where the story is going in my mind. I think what I'll end up doing is extending the prologue significantly, then ending it with Koth's arrival on a new plane. Chapter 1 begins with Tezzeret's departure (I've started it already) and ends after Tezzeret's report to Bolas (Tezz will be back later on, the way I have it planned). Chapter 2 will take us back to Phyrexia, to meet some more of the characters who were compleated (are you curious what happened to Kemba?). Then in Chapter 3 I'll circle back to Koth, who did in fact carry a drop of the oil through the Blind Eternities (The Artifact cycle implied that the oil can survive the blind eternities, IIRC).
Oh, and it's Kamigawa. Koth landed in Kamigawa.
I'm comfortable with that for several reasons:
1) They're not likely to go back there anytime soon; players didn't like it, story-wise it's weirdly timed (seriously, I'm still sort of unclear just how far in the past the Kamigawa story is, and I read the whole thing and the backstory on the Umezawa's history with Bolas), and frankly they seem to prefer to return to planes that were wildly popular or broken (I'm looking at you, Mirrodin).
2) Kamigawa seems so remote and pure, it's practically begging to be invaded.
3) I'm a sucker for Japanese culture, and any opportunity to write some Oni and Nezumi seems worth it. Plus, compleated Nezumi!
Also, if they do go back, whatever. This is just fan-fic. It's not like WotC cares what it contains or like there's a mass of people reading it (and even if there were, I doubt they'd mistake it for cannon).
Again, thank you for the feedback, more is coming soon. I hope that when all is said and done this is enjoyable for those who read it and/or see the cards.
I, like many, love Phyrexia. I grew up with Phyrexians being Magic's villains, and New Phyrexia was my favorite set in recent years. With that in mind, it should be no surprise that I have thought extensively about where the storyline for New Phyrexia is going. Here's what I've got. This is the prologue, but I have much more planned. I hope anyone who reads this enjoys it. Constructive feedback is always appreciated.
Koth rose to his feet unsteadily, looking around the mountainside on which he found himself. Though it pained him greatly, he had escaped by the only means he'd had at his disposal: planeswalking. He'd never 'walked like that before though. Usually a 'walk involved focus, concentration, and a destination. This had been like his spark reigniting; panic, fear, no destination, just a dire need to escape the fate which was bearing down upon him. Elspeth had already 'walked, he was sure of that. When the spellbomb had gone off, it had weakened the wall he'd erected. It only took the obliterators on the other side moments to carve through the thin layer of rock, and before the confrontation he'd noted that Elspeth was gone.
There had been no intention on his part to follow her. He needed to remain, to inspect the results of the spellbomb, and to eliminate any survivors. If he was lucky, all the praetors as well as Tezzeret would be dead. If he was unlucky, well, he was prepared to give up his life to ensure that they ended up that way. The first sign of trouble was the obliterators. In a one-on-one fight, he wasn't sure he could win against an obliterator. Every past confrontation he'd had with them had required assistance from Elspeth or from the mountains themselves. Seeing one lurching at him, the choice was obvious. Koth raised the floor below him into a column of stone, lifting himself out of the room and plugging the hole the spellbomb had made at the same time. Turning towards the throne, his optimism turned to cold horror. Seated upon it was Elesh Norn, with Jin-Gitaxias standing behind her left shoulder. Against the far wall slumped the massive figure of Vorinclex. His left massive, tooth-covered forearm was missing, and the jagged, bone-like plates around his head were broken off sharply near his neck. Koth was unsure if he was still alive. Tezzeret was nowhere to be seen. Unsurprising, he supposed. Tezzeret had struck him as too shrewd to stick around find out what intentions the new Father of Machines had for him. Or, as appeared to be the case, what the new Mother of Machines intended for him. That just left Koth, alone and clad in darksteel plate, to deal with the ascension. Reaching inside himself, he grasped for memories of the uncorrupted mountains, of the red sun at it's zenith, of rock and metal and fire. Mana flowed into him, and he shaped it into shards of rock and metal which he hurled at the new Mother of Machines and her apparent vizier. Though Gitaxias moved ever so slightly to the left, just a hair from his previous position at Norn's right side, it was the only indication either gave that they had even noticed his assault. Then the doors on either side of Elesh Norn, constructs of metal, flesh and porcelain (or bone, Koth couldn't be sure) so massive that Koth had failed to register them as doors at first, began to open. And for the first time since enacting the assassination plan, Koth felt uncertainty mixing with the sick feeling in his stomach.
From the door on Elesh Norn's right, a grinning monstrosity emerged. In spite of the warped, oversized jaw packed with razor-sharp teeth and the impossibly long talons on either hand, there was no mistaking Ezuri. Koth had never liked Ezuri, but they had fought together against the Phyrexians, and Ezuri had more than once appeared at a crucial moment to help rout the Phyrexians or to help evacuate survivors. Now spikes of metal jutted out from his back, had replaced his forearms, his hands, and everything from the waist down. A sickly green glow issued from his eyes, and from something implanted in his chest. Any vestige of the haughty former elf was gone, replaced by the handiwork of The Progress Engine. Seeing him this way was grotesque. From the other door strode another monstrosity. This one's right arm terminated at the wrist, and in place of a hand was a massive bone-porcelain blade on some kind of ball joint. The right fore arm had a row of porcelain shards which swept backward and appeared to be razor sharp. Both upper arms and shoulders were completely covered in the porcelain-bone material that Elesh Norn favored in her creations. The legs had been replaced by a second torso, perpendicular to the first, from which jutted 6 legs. Koth wasn't sure what creature it had come from originally, but it was bulbous and made of a black chitinous material, with shards of porcelain jutting out sharply near the joints and along the sides of the torso. The creature's head was covered in a bone-porcelain skullcap, but its face remained the same as it ever was. Looking back at Koth was the face of Jor Kadeen, once known as the Prevailer. Jor had been a friend, or as close to one as could be found in guerilla resistance groups spread across New Phyrexia. It had been months since any contact from Jor Kadeen or his guerilla cell had been received by anyone in the resistance. Now Koth knew why. As both former comrades began to close the distance between Koth and themselves, Koth's attention wandered back to Vorinclex. If the praetor was truly finished, it left only Jin-Gitaxias and Elesh Norn to kill. A leaderless Phyrexia would be a vulnerable Phyrexia. To accomplish that, Koth reminded himself, would be worth far more than just his life. He steeled himself, wracking his brain for spells which could be useful in clearing the champions from his path and killing the remaining praetors.
It was then that Ezuri made his move. Crossing the remainder of the hall impossibly fast, he lunged at Koth, seemingly intent on removing Koth's face. The galvanic blast which greeted him from Koth's fingertips was just a whisper of what it would once have been. It slowed Ezuri, dropping him briefly to the floor, but did not kill him. Koth had no time to consider a follow-up, for in that moment Jor Kadeen was upon him. The porcelain blade swung into Koth's midsection so fast that all he could see was its after-image. It clanged off of Koth's darksteel plate mail harmlessly, but Koth noted that the edge left behind a small line of glistening oil. As the mana of the mountains flowed through him, a hammer of magma and rock formed in Koth's hand. He swung it as hard as he could at Jor, only to see the hammer's head shorn off by Jor's blade. From his left, Koth heard a voice.
"Koth. Submit. There can be no victory for you here. Phyrexia is impressed with your fortitude. If you submit, you will be remade in the most glorious fashion. You will be a paladin for the Mother of Machines, the vanguard of her invasion forces.There is no other option. Those who do not submit will be consumed. Choose the glory of Phyrexia, Koth." The words were jarring. At first, Koth had filtered them out, focusing on avoiding Jor Kadeen's attacks and launching counter-attacks. But then he heard the words "invasion force", and his focus faltered. What could the Phyrexians possibly be planning to invade? They were trapped here on Phyrexia, without a means of traversing to other planes. Only Tezzeret had had that ability, and he had long since abandoned the plane for other pursuits. Hadn't he?
The kick came hard and fast. While parrying a blow from Jor Kadeen, Koth had been distracted by Ezuri's monologue. Before he could fully process it, Ezuri's foot crashed into his chest. The force of the blow sent Koth flying across the room and into the far wall. His head swam as he struggled to suck in the air which had been knocked out of him. Ezuri and Jor Kadeen crossed the distance in seconds, but to Koth's surprise they merely restrained his arms and legs. Then surprise melted into horror, as a new creature emerged from the right door behind Elesh Norn. Though nominally human in shape, the creature had undergone extensive alteration. At the end of each knee, half a dozen smaller legs erupted. Each appeared like a spider's leg, except for being longer than Koth's arm and constructed of the same black, chitinous material which composed Jor Kadeen's body and legs. The creature's upper legs were entirely wrapped in metal, as was the lower portion of the torso. The upper torso was covered in a chest plate of procelain, and each arm had been bifurcated at the elbow to allow a second arm to be added. And the horror was wearing Venser's face.
"You're dead," Koth croaked hoarsely. "I watched you give your life and your spark to Karn."
"You're only partially correct," responded the Venser-horror. Its lower jaw was bifurcated and had separated at the chin, opening to the right and left to reveal additional triangular teeth and a throat lined with the same triangular teeth.
"I was dead, you see," the horror continued,"and I did give up my spark. But this is Phyrexia, Koth. Death is not the end here. I'm sure I will die many more times in furtherance of the glory of Phyrexia. And they will revive me again, for one simple reason: I am opening the multiverse to the Mother of Machines. I am her favorite son. When Gitaxias found my body, he and the Mother of Machines rebuilt me. Imagine their surprise when they found confirmation of other worlds and a partially-finished schematic for a plane-traversing ship within my mind? The oil rebirthed many of the glories of Phyrexia, but not the planes-traversing ships. It was fate that I would be born amidst the fetid swamps that were Yawgmoth's final resting place. It was fate that I would create the ambulator, and begin my plans for a planeshifting ship shortly before you forced me to this plane. You may consider this my thanks. If not for you, my fate would have gone unfulfilled. I would still remain in Urborg, and that mad golem would still be seated on the throne, gibbering at his loyal subjects. Instead I gave him my old life, and my unneeded spark, and now I have been reborn in the glory of Phyrexia. The Mother of Machines and her Grand Architect have compleated me, and give me all I require to ensure the compleation of the ship so that the glory of Phyrexia may spread to new worlds. It is a great honor I have been given, but it is not so great as the honor that has been reserved for you. You are a master of killing, Koth. You have cut down so many Phyrexians that even we have lost count. Now you will kill for Phyrexia. The Grand Architect will rebuild you to the specifications of the Mother, and you will be her greatest champion: a knight of New Phyrexia, powerful beyond comprehension and utterly dedicated to spreading her glory to new planes. We hope that you will be able to retain your spark during compleation, but the Mother has graciously informed me that I will receive no punishment if you do not. After all, the spark will be less useful once the ships have been compleated." At this the Venser-horror paused, looking at both champions who restrained Koth. Though no words were spoken, Jor Kadeen's blade-arm lowered, the point aimed at the gap in the armor between Koth's torso and waist. Ezuri's left hand ceased joining his right in restraining Koth, and moved slowly towards Koth's throat. Once they gripped it firmly, Jor Kadeen lowered his sword-arm. "You've already seen the glorious compleation of your former comrades," Venser continued,"So you know that what I say is true. Will you submit, Koth? Or must we kill you in order for you to be reborn to glories of Phyrexia?" With that question, Ezuri's grip relaxed slightly.
"I will never submit," Koth croaked.
"Then we will simply kill you first, and then compleat you," Venser replied casually. "Ezuri, kill him for the Mother of Machines. Then bring the corpse and follow me to the Progress Engine. We have a laboratory ready for him." As soon as the words were spoken, the grip around Koth's neck tightened. Claws began to dig in to the back of his neck, and in that moment panic seized him. If he died here and now, it would be for nothing. Worse, it would allow Phyrexia's contagion to spread to countless worlds, and his face would be commanding the invasion forces. His head began to swim, but before darkness could claim him it happened. Every bit as violent as when his spark ignited, the 'walk flung him out of the throne room and across the Blind Eternities in the space of a moment. He reappeared on a mountainside, the air around him clear and crisp. He was well above the tree line on an unknown mountain on an unknown plane. There was no stink of Phyrexia, and without Ezuri's claws at his throat his head began to clear quickly in the cool air. Instinctively, he reached out to the mountain. It was uncorrupted and unknown to Koth, and it had been quite some time since he had tried to form a bond with such a place in order to access its mana. It was more difficult than he remembered, so he sat upon a large boulder to close his eyes and focus. He had just touched the molten essence of the mountain when he felt a rough poke at his ribs. Opening his eyes presented him with half a dozen spears pointed at him.
NOTES- As I said before, in this prologue, we begin the story of NPH where Uncharted Realms left off. I have tried to keep the story tied to the game, with references to actual cards where appropriate. I posit that the compleation of Ezuri occurs at the hands of The Progress Engine, making him loyal to/a product of Jin-Gitaxias (this is based off of information available now that Commander 2015 product has been released). I also take the opportunity to kill Vorinclex and put Jin-Gitaxias in the position of #2 in the Phyrexian hierarchy. Gitaxias is smart enough to know that Elesh Norn has toppled 2 other Praetors and certainly has the power to take over his territory as well. To prevent this, I assumed he would naturally place himself in a subservient (and likely subversive) position as advisor. I admit that Koth is immune to the contagion, and this fact is somewhat glossed over. However, we all know the Phyrexians to be tenacious and obsessed with solving the riddle of Melira's inoculation. As it has been strongly implied that the Phyrexians have her in their grasp, it isn't terribly unreasonable (IMHO) to make the logical leap that they have solved or are close to solving the problem of immunity to the contagion. In imagining characters, I tried to imagine what their card would look like. Noting that Ezuri was 2 color, I tried imagining a New Phyrexia where multicolor magic was increasing. Norn conquered Red and Black territories already, obviously. Hence it seemed reasonable that in compleating Jor Kadeen, that the nuisances of individuality and passion would be removed with his connection to red mana, and that his phyrexianized version would be Black/White. His lower half description is a nod to Sheoldred. Venser I reimagined as an Esper colored creature due to having been a U/W planeswalker who was then revived and phyrexianized (having lost his spark, he's a creature). And of course both Elesh Norn and Jin-Gitaxias have been changed by their power. The cards I imagine are:
[Ezuri, Claw of Progress]{UG}
Jor Kadeen, the Corrupted {BW}
Jin-Gitaxias, Grand Architect {UW}
Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines {WUBRG}
Venser Compleated {WUB}
The story will of course involve other characters, and I'll update here as it progresses. I haven't fully nailed down where Koth landed, but I'm 80/20 for Kamigawa/Vryn. Of course, I might have to use an unknown plane. If you read closely, you know why. If you didn't, go back and read again. Did you catch it? No? Then re-read it one more time, and remember this: it only took one drop of oil hitchhiking on Karn to begin the infection of Mirrodin. Ah darn, I gave it away.
I haven't made any major revisions to my previous decklist yet. The Hammer of Purphoros moved to the board (it will stay there until I confirm there is no grindy blue deck pilot in my meta, then probably move out of the 75 for now), and I think I changed my sweeper composition a little. I'll post the exact 75 I play tonight and my record when I finish the tournament tonight. Inferno Titan is still my top end, and I don't have access to a suitable 5-drop to replace Sarkhan in time for tonight, so he's still in there.
One thing I wanted to mention though, in case anyone else sees Slivers in their meta and wonders if I came up with hot tech for the match: I did. Checkout Flamebreak, which is very saucy. The problem I was encountering wasn't that I couldn't play a sweeper or that the Slivers were too big most of the time, it was Sedge Sliver keeping enough of his board alive to continue pounding me the next turn. One for one removal works the first few turns, but with a savvy opponent fetching basics you eventually have to deal with someone who can hardcast a Collected Company or Sedge Sliver and another Sliver while keeping up regeneration mana.
Anyway, there's not a lot of Goryo's Vengeance in my meta, but there is plenty of Tasigur and Tarmogoyf, so I think all 3 Relics are rocking the main deck.
Hammer was pretty mediocre. I never played a match grindy enough to call for it outright, and was lucky enough not to see Kolaghan's Command on it. I'm going to move it to the board or out of the 75. I haven't decided yet.
Inferno Titan, on the other hand, was totally bonkers. More than one game 1 went:
Turn 1: Draw, Land, Go
Turn 2: Draw, Land, Go, EOT Burn a dude
Turn 3: Draw, Land, Blood Moon (usually turning every land on the board into a Mountain), Go
Turn 4: Draw, Land, Chandra or Sweeper, Go.
Turn 5: Draw, Land, Koth, -2, Inferno Titan, zap the opponent's face for 3, Go.
Turn 6: Draw, Land, float 6, +1 Koth, fire-breath Inferno Titan for 6, attack with 4/4, 12/6, and 1 point to their dome from the trigger (the other 2 zapping any blocker they dropped). Game.
The kind of game where you never feel even a moment of doubt. Just complete control followed by murderous burn. He was amazing against Abzan, too. There he annihilated everything they threw down as fast as they could throw it down, mopping up anything that avoided an Anger of the Gods or other burn. I'd also like to say that I played a couple of for-fun games, and Inferno Titan was good in them as well. For now, he's definitely sticking around the top end.
I did live the dream once and play Inferno Titan with Hammer of Purphoros in play. The game was over that turn, as he'd already taken 2 hits from Koth mountains and had no blockers.
For now, I'd like to make a couple of tweaks. Hammer out to the board, possibly down to 1 Sarkhan. I don't hate bringing in 2 Stormbreath Dragon in those slots. I'm also going to go on a "tech hunt" and start scouring gatherer for any spicy nuggets I might have missed. I've considered Outpost Siege as a CA engine, but I'd like to check for anything else cool. One thought which jumps out (if you've ever played with or against Pox in Legacy, you'll understand why) is Magus of the Scroll. Cursed Scroll is a strong card if you're sitting on a small hand, or one of just lands. But, because Magus is a creature with 1 toughness, he probably won't make the cut.
Hey all, I finally got to go play my Skred Red in a tournament. I went 3-1, losing only to Slivers in game 3 of our match. My deck list is on page 32 of this thread, and I want to say a few things first:
1) I would say overall the meta here leans towards control, though aggro is present.
2) Combo is very present here as well
3) I had no idea what the meta was going in, so I took the approach of "Planeswalkers are difficult permanents to deal with and one of red's few sources of CA, removal keeps me safe from creatures, and I need some top end or finisher". I would certainly make meta-based changes to this list going forward.
All that said, here's what I learned:
Blood Moon is the Force of Will of this format. It keeps combo decks in check and forces "fair" decks to stick to a "fair" game plan. In my 2nd round, I played infect. Early removal kept the game manageable, and a turn 3 Blood Moon both games shut him down like a timely FoW will do to legacy infect. I know Modern aficionados hate comparisons to Legacy, but that's my primary eternal format frame of reference. So much like FoW, having a deck with 4 Blood Moon immediately made every game feel winnable to me.
Chandra is great. I was incredulous, but pinging for one matters more than I thought it would. And that 0 ability is just gravy when your hand runs down and you need to find threats to close things out. Sarkhan, on the other hand, was hit or miss. Against Abzan, he was the bee's knees. They never dropped a threat he couldn't kill (thanks to relic keeping goyf down and Siege Rhino being uncastable in a Blood Moon without basics), and once their board was clear it was him and Koth Mountains closing things down fast. Against Slivers, he was awful. Barely removed a threat, then died. Koth is Koth. Hammertime, baby.
Aggro is not a bad matchup at all, thanks to removal for days. But Slivers was rough. They can easily keep pace with our removal (well, the version I played against), and Sedge Sliver is very strong against Skred decks. This guy also ran several basics, and was smart enough to start out fetching basics in each game. I need to start examining other removal spells for Slivers.
Red Sun's Zenith shone brighter than the sun. Is anyone else playing this card? I made the abzan player hate life (RSZ is fantastic against Voice and Finks), and at the end game it was just a conveniently drawn fireball. 2 felt about right. I might try a 3rd, but I could see it being overkill. Also it keeps delve players from gaining additional fuel in attrition matches. Between it and Relic, Tasigur was not a problem for me.
That's the bulk of what I've reconstructed from my notes. I'll try to post more breakdown of card performance later if I can.
This thread has been fantastic for getting brewing ideas for Skred Red! Thanks guys!
I'm new to Modern, but have been a dedicated Legacy and Vintage player for years. I put together a Skred Red list to play next week at Modern for the first time. Here's what I'm working with:
Obviously, there are some departures from your standard Skred Red list. First, the obvious differences: The addition of 2 Chandra, Pyromaster to fill the Outpost Siege card advantage slot (at the same CMC) to offer (hopefully) a little more flexibility when necessary. Also, the addition of 2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker to help fill the same slot as Stormbreath Dragon on the curve. Though Indestructible is weaker than Protection from White, the additional board control and dominating card advantage Sarkhan threatens could be very strong. I've also included a single main deck Hammer of Purphoros, which presents a variety of useful and interesting interactions. More than one is probably wrong, but giving creatures haste is excellent for Inferno Titan, fine for Boros Reckoner, and allows Koth to +1 a just-played mountain and tap it for mana again (or attack with it); the second ability is utterly backbreaking against grindy control decks. If it plays as well in tournament as it has in testing, I may need to introduce a single Crucible of Worlds to the main deck or sideboard. I'm also not running Lightning Bolt, which I realize is a sin. In all likelihood, if the local meta doesn't call for as many exile effects and sweepers, I'll replace the 3 Anger of the Gods and 1 Red Sun's Zenith with 4 Lightning Bolt. I also stuffed in 2 Mouth of Ronom, as in testing it was quite strong in the mid-to-late game.
The sideboard is some additional hate for Islands, some additional Blood Moon effects (when it's good, it's really good), a couple of Eidolon of the Great Revel to put pressure on people trying to play a flurry of spells (and/or counter-pressure on Burn players, to race them with Koth Mountains). Otherwise it's a lot of Graveyard hate (this deck feels weak to graveyards) and some relevant control pieces (Pithing Needle, Ensnaring Bridge).
I'll post results and tweaks after I finally play the deck next week (I'm headed out of town tomorrow for about a week). Comments or critiques are welcome!
No, we have a reasonably active vintage scene in Austin and Marinara shops is here. It's a red splash shops deck that runs Goblin Welder. Some builds go deeper on red, running Flame Jab to remove problematic cards such as Kataki, War's Wage from the board.
The most experienced player of that type of shops deck in our local meta also happens to run the Uba Mask/Bazaar of Baghdad combo in his deck, as a way to blow out control players while generating card advantage. It's kind of a wonky build, but it has a much greater degree of flexibility against control decks than your old prison shops lists.
Personally, I've been working on a list that hybridizes the best of Nick Detweiler's most recent prison shops deck and the combo shops deck that beat Terranova shops at Bazaar of Moxen. It has a few additions of my own that are particularly good in our local meta, where blue control decks are big and a lot of them pack transformational sideboards to become Oath decks.
There's a local vintage tournament this weekend, unlimited proxies, at a local game store. About a dozen people I know have been testing up a storm. So I don't think shops is dead, just upgrading quietly so blue players don't put together the hot new tech. I mean, a lot of people have found answers to traditional shops threats like Lodestone Golem and Tangle Wire. You don't broadcast your next weapon to the enemy in an arms race until you're ready to use it.
I've tried to come to a satisfactory answer, and I just can't figure it out. Maybe it's because I keep looking at the Super Types and overthinking it. Here we go: after top 8'ing a local Game Day, I got a full-art Nighthowler. Sweet, right?
So I put it in my Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts commander deck (which has a strong enchantment sub-theme mixed in with the "Kill 'Em All" B/W theme). Then I realized I wasn't sure if I could legally bestow Nighthowler on Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts.
On the stack, it's an Aura targeting her, so that seemed legal. But it has the type creature, and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts has protection from creatures. Can I bestow Nighthowler on her? Will it stay attached to her once it resolves, or fall off because she has protection from one of its types?
Obviously Magus of the Library wants us to play with a full hand (which implies a control deck to me), but he also accelerates the deck on a 2->4 scheme. Here's some initial thoughts I've had:
4 Magus of the Library - This card is a must, it's the whole reason for the brew.
3-4 Yeva, Nature's Herald - I like that this won't die to Lightning Bolt, and is a turn 3 end step play after Magus. I dislike that it's Legendary and only gives flash to green creatures (although I'm not hating mono-green).
Some number of Beast Within - Very solid catch-all removal with a downside that can be easily chewed up by creatures in a green deck.
Some number of Chord of Calling - It's an Instant, it's green, it does something awesome. Probably want some Chord of Calling here.
Possibly Oath of Nissa? It's very good card filtering and could allow for a relatively painless splash for second color (if it's for a planeswalker).
Garruk, Primal Hunter is a card I've always wanted to play. Maybe it could fit here?
Ditto to Nissa, Vital Force.
Any help with this brewing would be appreciated! I'm too indecisive with this brew to get a good start. I think I want to stay mono-green (although now that Colorless is basically a 6th color, spells requiring colorless could easily be worked into the deck), and the deck wants to have a relatively high density of cantrips and flash/instants. Beyond that I'm still very much in the infancy of the brewing process with this deck.
1) You're actually casting these big fatties, not just cheating them into play. The casting triggers on each Eldrazi is pretty back-breaking, but here's a raw comparison
Ulamog 1.0 = Destroy 1 Permanent
Ulamog 2.0 = Exile 2 Permanents
Kozilek 1.0 = Draw 4 Cards
Kozilek 2.0 = Draw between 0 and 7 cards, but guarantees with Kozilek 2.0 on the stack you have a 7-card hand
Emrakul 1.0 = Time Walk + Annihilator
Emrakul 2.0 = Mindslaver + Trample
In my mind, you should basically always upgrade Ulamog to The Ceaseless Hunger, unless Annihilator is that important to you. Kozilek is your choice, but I personally think 2.0 is the best option. In a deck that's playing a 10-drop, you probably were down to 1-3 cards in hand when you cast him, making him draw you 4+ cards. And he protects himself (via countermagic) and has evasion (via Menace), whereas 1.0 just has evasion (via Annihilator). Emrakul is the toughest choice. Emrakul 1.0 basically wins the game on the spot, but even for a big mana deck it takes a bit to get to 15 mana. Conversely, Emrakul 2.0 is more likely to get cast for 10-12 mana due to the diversity of cards in your deck and the interactivity of Legacy. That means that even though she's arguably weaker, you're more likely to get your Mindslaver. And once she resolves, protection from Instants is quite strong in Legacy. As is flying and trample. I think you should try piloting the deck and see how games play out. Nothing works better than solid playtesting data.
1) If you are trying to play at highly competitive events, this deck needs a complete overhaul and will be much different in composition than it is now.
2) If you are not trying to play at highly competitive events, this deck can play locally with some small tweaks and at the kitchen table with none.
That said, if you are dedicated to the following elements:
Big Eldrazi titans (the OG 3, it appears) being hardcast instead of cheated into play
Big Mana
Colorless Mana only
Legacy format
and you want to develop this for a reasonable level of competitive play (you won't crush an SCG Open, but you also won't be totally embarassed by the deck), then there are some changes you can make without sacrificing your core vision.
First, your land base:
12 Tron lands - Out
8 Post package - I'll leave in, but it's weak in my opinion.
In -
+3 Eldrazi Temple - For what you want to do, this card is nuts. 2 Colorless mana, drawback free.
+2 Eye of Ugin - Yes, it's Legendary, but you really want one and Expedition Map is slow. Go up to 3 and never look back.
+4 Ancient Tomb - It will impact your life total, but it will power out Eldrazi.
+4 Vesuva - This is the other 4 in the typical 12-Post package. In a pinch, they also become Eldrazi Temples. A solid card.
+1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Disgustingly good with Eye of Ugin, and allows you to tap Ancient Tomb for B if you only need one mana but really need to not spend 2 life.
New land count: 24 (12 post, 4 E Temple, 4 A Tomb, 3 Eye, 1 Urborg)
Now, the disruption/acceleration package:
Just cut everything but All Is Dust, Pithing Needle, Expedition Map, Amulet of Vigor
Now play 4 of each of the 1 mana artifacts. You need Pithing Needle on Wasteland in basically every game, you can stack Amulet of Vigor triggers to get tons of mana (put each trigger on the stack and in response to each tap the lands for mana again), and Expedition Map is always good for colorless land search.
You probably want 2 copies of All Is Dust. I would be shocked if you really want the 3rd.
Consider playing a few Warping Wail, it's quite versatile and good.
Cut most of your Eldrazi, and try to fit in:
4 Thought-Knot Seer - He's a big body with a good disruptive effect you can power out early.
3-4 Kozilek's Channeler - This is an Eldrazi that's immune to Lightning Bolt, comes down early, and pushes you towards your big mana goals.
some number of Conduit of Ruin and/or Oblivion Sower. Eldrazi Temple + Eye of Ugin + Ancient Tomb should make it easy to power these guys out while you build up 12-Post, and they help advance you to your endgame.
Also, as much as you love Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, I would say that Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger is a huge improvement for a deck's ability to stabilize, and would include one.
So your deck would look something like this after these tweaks:
4 Glimmerpost
4 Vesuva
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Ancient Tomb
3 Eye of Ugin
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
4 Amulet of Vigor
4 Expedition Map
2 All Is Dust
3 Warping Wail
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Kozilek's Channeler
4 Reality Smasher
3 Conduit of Ruin
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
I slotted in Reality Smasher for greater board presence early in the game here as well, then realized you have no way to pull out of a top-deck scenario so I added a Sea Gate Wreckage you can search up with Expedition Map.
A big part of competitive play is knowing what you are playing against. Pithing Needle is better if you know to name cards like Wasteland, JTMS, LoTV, etc. Warping Wail is better if you know what creatures if hits and what sorceries matter.
1) How Serious - Do you play at the kitchen table, at local tournaments, or do you travel for large competitive events such as SCG Opens or TCGPlayer Invitationals?
2) How to Deal with Established Decks - This question presupposes that you play at a level beyond the kitchen table. In competitive Magic, there are powerful well-established deck archetypes which have been developed by groups of people over time and are make regular appearances at the top tables of large competitive events. For Legacy format this includes Stoneblade variants, Storm, Infect, Shardless Sultai, Colorless Eldrazi (more on that in a moment)and other such high-powered decks.
I'm operating under the assumption you do not play large competitive events. If you do, you'll want to do a Starcitygames.com decklist database search for Legacy decks including Eye of Ugin. That will give you an idea of the big mana strategies currently favored in Legacy. As a first step, I'd point out how bad Tron is in Legacy. You are attempting to assemble 3 distinct lands in a format that is utterly dominated by Wasteland, and your plan to beat Wasteland appears to be "pray it doesn't show up, or that I drew Pithing Needle and resolved it and kept it in play", both of which are risky. A similarly fragile big mana deck (12-Post) runs 4 Pithing Needles in the main just to try and stop Wasteland. Unfortunately, the ubiquity of Abrupt Decay makes that play less viable than it used to be. Most big mana Eldrazi decks choose to either run 4x Ancient Tomb alongside 4x Eldrazi Temple and multiple Eye of Ugin and City of Traitors to virtually guarantee that their mana production goes 2 to 4 to 6 colorless available turns 1-3. This powers out threats like Thought-Knot Seer on turn 2. This is in addition to disruption, usually provided by a play of turn 1 Ancient Tomb to cast Chalice of the Void on 1, which is a frequently back-breaking play in Legacy. Other disruption typically includes Trinisphere or Thorn of Amethyst.
To be quite blunt, cards like Hedron Matrix and Eldrazi Conscription are not playable at the competitive level. They do not immediately impact the game state, but rather require you to already have a creature in play, and they cost insane amounts of mana. I understand you expect to have lots of mana available, but bear in mind that the nature of competitive Magic is disruption. Your opponent will likely lead with something like turn 1 Island into Delver of Secrets (threatening Daze) or hold it up threatening Spell Pierce and/or Daze for your turn 1 play. Turn 2 they follow with Wasteland, keeping you clipped to 1 land effectively. These aren't random ideas either, the top levels of Legacy play frequently involve early turns with this much disruption. Jund can easily hit you with turn 1 Thoughtseize, turn 2 Hymn to Tourach, turn 3 Liliana of the Veil (so can Pox).
Starcitygames.com (amongst other sites such as TCGplayer.com and Channelfireball.com) can give you an idea what the top decks are in a format. There was just a Legacy event a week and a half ago in Baltimore where Colorless Eldrazi did well. Here's that decklist, which took 16th place:
And here's the top performing Legacy lists from that event:
=3&start_date=2016-07-30&end_date=2016-07-31&city=&order_1=finish&limit=8&t_num=1&action=Show+Decks]
Hope that this was somewhat helpful and gives you an idea how pro-level players construct colorless decks for Legacy play.
EDIT: It has been a while since a big-mana deck put up really good results. Most Eldrazi are playing the mid-range stuff like Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher. You will likely need to find an older list as a starting point, either a 12-Post list or a MUD list or something, as the sol-land big mana decks seem to keep their curve lower than the Eldrazi Titans.
The second thing to bear in mind is this: Norn is leader of a group that believes in (literally, to some extent) bringing everything into the fold. We know in the lore she's already defeated Urabrask and Sheoldred. I don't believe it's that much of a stretch to think that there's a logical progression to her conquest that includes assimilating useful characteristics from the fallen. After all, repurposing on Phyrexia is a holy duty. So that would put her into R and B as well. So at that point she's W, a little U, and has some R and B. It's just a little further stretch to put her into Green as well.
There's also the fact that they (the Phyrexians) had a Mono-B god before. I could have swung things back and made her their Mono-W god (nominally female as well, so essentially an inversion of the nominally male Mono-B god), but it didn't sit right with me. Yawgmoth was a god of black mana because that's all the mana Phyrexia had available. New Phyrexia has all 5 colors, so I personally believe that any Praetor to ascend to godhood would have to incorporate all 5 colors.
But I can certainly see a strong argument for her remaining Mono-W. I guess the questions there are:
Do you incorporate the devotion mechanic (and the Legendary Enchantment Creature formatting) if you go with Mono-W god version of Elesh Norn?
How do you alter her stats (CMC, P/T, abilities) to reflect her mono-white godhood?
Do you assume other Praetors have ascended to take on the old domains of Urabrask, Sheoldred, and (post-ascension) Elesh Norn? If not, why? If so, who?
As for the other cards, void_nothing, they aren't mine. Honestly they don't even make sense to me from a lore-based perspective. Sheoldred and Urabrask are gone, Elesh Norn defeated them and assumed control of their domains. That was made very clear in the lore. So I can't understand how there even is a "Sheoldred's Hand" or "Urabrask's Fury". For those to make sense, this set would occur during the conflict between Praetors and not after Elesh Norn's victory (which I posit led to her ascension). I also don't care for the return of the proliferate mechanic, which I associate with conquering an unspoiled world. New Phyrexia is compleated, there isn't a great connection in my mind between that mechanic and the state of things on the plane now. Infect makes more sense, as that is a characteristic of Phyrexians which there is no reason to downplay. I would save Proliferate for a later set, one featuring the Phyrexians invading a new plane (for the first time since conquering Mirrodin and compleating it).
That said, I like the concept behind Vorinclex's Pet. From my perspective, it would be Glissa's Pet though. Or Vorinclex's Remnant. Since I killed Vorinclex in my fanfic prologue (a decision I based on the fact that Vorinclex was already defending his territory from Glissa's machinations in NPH, and that I feel he would submit to Norn as Gitaxias did once he saw what Norn had done to Urabrask and Sheoldred). But I like seeing higher-CMC, higher P/T infect creatures. With Trample it would have been over the top at U (but totally playable as R). With any kind of positive tweak (an ETB ability, mild protection of some kind, or a way to generate CA if it dies) that could easily be done with all the original stats (6/6 infect trample for 4GG) as a Mythic. So I would think:
Vorinclex's Remnant4GG{M}
Infect, Trample
Vorinclex's Remnant must be blocked if able.
When Vorinclex's Remnant leaves the battlefield, you may search your library for a creature card with infect and converted mana cost of 3 or less and put it on the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
Smaller scavengers follow in their wake, snatching up any bits that have been left behind.
6/6
The other thing I'm aiming for here is a more heavily multicolored set. I've very much wanted to see some multicolored phyrexian spells, multicolored infect creatures, and multicolored artifacts. I took the creation of Ezuri, Claw of Progress as a sign that with no remaining external enemies except for Koth on the plane, the Phyrexians were beginning to bleed into each other's domains. Elves and creatures from The Tangle ending up in Progress Engine laboratories, Furnace Layer creatures being sutured together with new porcelain plates by the Machine Orthodoxy, etc.
All that said, I'm enjoying the discussion these started. It's interesting to see how other people conceive of what's been occurring on NPH and what sort of cards they'd produce for a new NPH set.
Also this is a great excuse to practice on GIMP, and get better at making custom cards.
Objectively speaking, you are probably right in assessing it as massively overpowered for a +1. A change to "add R" would probably be much more balanced.
Still, I'm doing these more as fanboy service to one of my all-time favorite storylines than I am as cards meant to see play. I dunno that I'll actually go back and make changes to these.
EDIT: My wife just pointed out that Elesh Norn makes herself an 8/8 infect indestructible the way I have it worded. Also obviously overpowered.
Koth, Battle HardenedRRR
Planeswalker - Koth {M}
+1: Add R to your mana pool for each Mountain you control.
-2: Koth, Battle Hardened deals damage to target creature or planeswalker equal to the number of Mountains you control.
-6: Koth, Battle Hardened deals X damage to each opponent and each creature your opponent's control, where X is equal to twice the number of Mountains you control.
Starting Loyalty: 3
Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines WUBRG
Legendary Creature - Praetor God {M}
Indestructible
Creatures you control get +1/+1 and have infect.
Creatures your opponents control get -1/-1, lose infect, and can't have or gain infect.
All hail the Mother of Machines
7/7
For some reason I can't get my images to load properly, so I've attached the card image file. More to come in the future.
Oh, and it's Kamigawa. Koth landed in Kamigawa.
I'm comfortable with that for several reasons:
1) They're not likely to go back there anytime soon; players didn't like it, story-wise it's weirdly timed (seriously, I'm still sort of unclear just how far in the past the Kamigawa story is, and I read the whole thing and the backstory on the Umezawa's history with Bolas), and frankly they seem to prefer to return to planes that were wildly popular or broken (I'm looking at you, Mirrodin).
2) Kamigawa seems so remote and pure, it's practically begging to be invaded.
3) I'm a sucker for Japanese culture, and any opportunity to write some Oni and Nezumi seems worth it. Plus, compleated Nezumi!
Also, if they do go back, whatever. This is just fan-fic. It's not like WotC cares what it contains or like there's a mass of people reading it (and even if there were, I doubt they'd mistake it for cannon).
Again, thank you for the feedback, more is coming soon. I hope that when all is said and done this is enjoyable for those who read it and/or see the cards.
Koth rose to his feet unsteadily, looking around the mountainside on which he found himself. Though it pained him greatly, he had escaped by the only means he'd had at his disposal: planeswalking. He'd never 'walked like that before though. Usually a 'walk involved focus, concentration, and a destination. This had been like his spark reigniting; panic, fear, no destination, just a dire need to escape the fate which was bearing down upon him. Elspeth had already 'walked, he was sure of that. When the spellbomb had gone off, it had weakened the wall he'd erected. It only took the obliterators on the other side moments to carve through the thin layer of rock, and before the confrontation he'd noted that Elspeth was gone.
There had been no intention on his part to follow her. He needed to remain, to inspect the results of the spellbomb, and to eliminate any survivors. If he was lucky, all the praetors as well as Tezzeret would be dead. If he was unlucky, well, he was prepared to give up his life to ensure that they ended up that way. The first sign of trouble was the obliterators. In a one-on-one fight, he wasn't sure he could win against an obliterator. Every past confrontation he'd had with them had required assistance from Elspeth or from the mountains themselves. Seeing one lurching at him, the choice was obvious. Koth raised the floor below him into a column of stone, lifting himself out of the room and plugging the hole the spellbomb had made at the same time. Turning towards the throne, his optimism turned to cold horror. Seated upon it was Elesh Norn, with Jin-Gitaxias standing behind her left shoulder. Against the far wall slumped the massive figure of Vorinclex. His left massive, tooth-covered forearm was missing, and the jagged, bone-like plates around his head were broken off sharply near his neck. Koth was unsure if he was still alive. Tezzeret was nowhere to be seen. Unsurprising, he supposed. Tezzeret had struck him as too shrewd to stick around find out what intentions the new Father of Machines had for him. Or, as appeared to be the case, what the new Mother of Machines intended for him. That just left Koth, alone and clad in darksteel plate, to deal with the ascension. Reaching inside himself, he grasped for memories of the uncorrupted mountains, of the red sun at it's zenith, of rock and metal and fire. Mana flowed into him, and he shaped it into shards of rock and metal which he hurled at the new Mother of Machines and her apparent vizier. Though Gitaxias moved ever so slightly to the left, just a hair from his previous position at Norn's right side, it was the only indication either gave that they had even noticed his assault. Then the doors on either side of Elesh Norn, constructs of metal, flesh and porcelain (or bone, Koth couldn't be sure) so massive that Koth had failed to register them as doors at first, began to open. And for the first time since enacting the assassination plan, Koth felt uncertainty mixing with the sick feeling in his stomach.
From the door on Elesh Norn's right, a grinning monstrosity emerged. In spite of the warped, oversized jaw packed with razor-sharp teeth and the impossibly long talons on either hand, there was no mistaking Ezuri. Koth had never liked Ezuri, but they had fought together against the Phyrexians, and Ezuri had more than once appeared at a crucial moment to help rout the Phyrexians or to help evacuate survivors. Now spikes of metal jutted out from his back, had replaced his forearms, his hands, and everything from the waist down. A sickly green glow issued from his eyes, and from something implanted in his chest. Any vestige of the haughty former elf was gone, replaced by the handiwork of The Progress Engine. Seeing him this way was grotesque. From the other door strode another monstrosity. This one's right arm terminated at the wrist, and in place of a hand was a massive bone-porcelain blade on some kind of ball joint. The right fore arm had a row of porcelain shards which swept backward and appeared to be razor sharp. Both upper arms and shoulders were completely covered in the porcelain-bone material that Elesh Norn favored in her creations. The legs had been replaced by a second torso, perpendicular to the first, from which jutted 6 legs. Koth wasn't sure what creature it had come from originally, but it was bulbous and made of a black chitinous material, with shards of porcelain jutting out sharply near the joints and along the sides of the torso. The creature's head was covered in a bone-porcelain skullcap, but its face remained the same as it ever was. Looking back at Koth was the face of Jor Kadeen, once known as the Prevailer. Jor had been a friend, or as close to one as could be found in guerilla resistance groups spread across New Phyrexia. It had been months since any contact from Jor Kadeen or his guerilla cell had been received by anyone in the resistance. Now Koth knew why. As both former comrades began to close the distance between Koth and themselves, Koth's attention wandered back to Vorinclex. If the praetor was truly finished, it left only Jin-Gitaxias and Elesh Norn to kill. A leaderless Phyrexia would be a vulnerable Phyrexia. To accomplish that, Koth reminded himself, would be worth far more than just his life. He steeled himself, wracking his brain for spells which could be useful in clearing the champions from his path and killing the remaining praetors.
It was then that Ezuri made his move. Crossing the remainder of the hall impossibly fast, he lunged at Koth, seemingly intent on removing Koth's face. The galvanic blast which greeted him from Koth's fingertips was just a whisper of what it would once have been. It slowed Ezuri, dropping him briefly to the floor, but did not kill him. Koth had no time to consider a follow-up, for in that moment Jor Kadeen was upon him. The porcelain blade swung into Koth's midsection so fast that all he could see was its after-image. It clanged off of Koth's darksteel plate mail harmlessly, but Koth noted that the edge left behind a small line of glistening oil. As the mana of the mountains flowed through him, a hammer of magma and rock formed in Koth's hand. He swung it as hard as he could at Jor, only to see the hammer's head shorn off by Jor's blade. From his left, Koth heard a voice.
"Koth. Submit. There can be no victory for you here. Phyrexia is impressed with your fortitude. If you submit, you will be remade in the most glorious fashion. You will be a paladin for the Mother of Machines, the vanguard of her invasion forces.There is no other option. Those who do not submit will be consumed. Choose the glory of Phyrexia, Koth." The words were jarring. At first, Koth had filtered them out, focusing on avoiding Jor Kadeen's attacks and launching counter-attacks. But then he heard the words "invasion force", and his focus faltered. What could the Phyrexians possibly be planning to invade? They were trapped here on Phyrexia, without a means of traversing to other planes. Only Tezzeret had had that ability, and he had long since abandoned the plane for other pursuits. Hadn't he?
The kick came hard and fast. While parrying a blow from Jor Kadeen, Koth had been distracted by Ezuri's monologue. Before he could fully process it, Ezuri's foot crashed into his chest. The force of the blow sent Koth flying across the room and into the far wall. His head swam as he struggled to suck in the air which had been knocked out of him. Ezuri and Jor Kadeen crossed the distance in seconds, but to Koth's surprise they merely restrained his arms and legs. Then surprise melted into horror, as a new creature emerged from the right door behind Elesh Norn. Though nominally human in shape, the creature had undergone extensive alteration. At the end of each knee, half a dozen smaller legs erupted. Each appeared like a spider's leg, except for being longer than Koth's arm and constructed of the same black, chitinous material which composed Jor Kadeen's body and legs. The creature's upper legs were entirely wrapped in metal, as was the lower portion of the torso. The upper torso was covered in a chest plate of procelain, and each arm had been bifurcated at the elbow to allow a second arm to be added. And the horror was wearing Venser's face.
"You're dead," Koth croaked hoarsely. "I watched you give your life and your spark to Karn."
"You're only partially correct," responded the Venser-horror. Its lower jaw was bifurcated and had separated at the chin, opening to the right and left to reveal additional triangular teeth and a throat lined with the same triangular teeth.
"I was dead, you see," the horror continued,"and I did give up my spark. But this is Phyrexia, Koth. Death is not the end here. I'm sure I will die many more times in furtherance of the glory of Phyrexia. And they will revive me again, for one simple reason: I am opening the multiverse to the Mother of Machines. I am her favorite son. When Gitaxias found my body, he and the Mother of Machines rebuilt me. Imagine their surprise when they found confirmation of other worlds and a partially-finished schematic for a plane-traversing ship within my mind? The oil rebirthed many of the glories of Phyrexia, but not the planes-traversing ships. It was fate that I would be born amidst the fetid swamps that were Yawgmoth's final resting place. It was fate that I would create the ambulator, and begin my plans for a planeshifting ship shortly before you forced me to this plane. You may consider this my thanks. If not for you, my fate would have gone unfulfilled. I would still remain in Urborg, and that mad golem would still be seated on the throne, gibbering at his loyal subjects. Instead I gave him my old life, and my unneeded spark, and now I have been reborn in the glory of Phyrexia. The Mother of Machines and her Grand Architect have compleated me, and give me all I require to ensure the compleation of the ship so that the glory of Phyrexia may spread to new worlds. It is a great honor I have been given, but it is not so great as the honor that has been reserved for you. You are a master of killing, Koth. You have cut down so many Phyrexians that even we have lost count. Now you will kill for Phyrexia. The Grand Architect will rebuild you to the specifications of the Mother, and you will be her greatest champion: a knight of New Phyrexia, powerful beyond comprehension and utterly dedicated to spreading her glory to new planes. We hope that you will be able to retain your spark during compleation, but the Mother has graciously informed me that I will receive no punishment if you do not. After all, the spark will be less useful once the ships have been compleated." At this the Venser-horror paused, looking at both champions who restrained Koth. Though no words were spoken, Jor Kadeen's blade-arm lowered, the point aimed at the gap in the armor between Koth's torso and waist. Ezuri's left hand ceased joining his right in restraining Koth, and moved slowly towards Koth's throat. Once they gripped it firmly, Jor Kadeen lowered his sword-arm. "You've already seen the glorious compleation of your former comrades," Venser continued,"So you know that what I say is true. Will you submit, Koth? Or must we kill you in order for you to be reborn to glories of Phyrexia?" With that question, Ezuri's grip relaxed slightly.
"I will never submit," Koth croaked.
"Then we will simply kill you first, and then compleat you," Venser replied casually. "Ezuri, kill him for the Mother of Machines. Then bring the corpse and follow me to the Progress Engine. We have a laboratory ready for him." As soon as the words were spoken, the grip around Koth's neck tightened. Claws began to dig in to the back of his neck, and in that moment panic seized him. If he died here and now, it would be for nothing. Worse, it would allow Phyrexia's contagion to spread to countless worlds, and his face would be commanding the invasion forces. His head began to swim, but before darkness could claim him it happened. Every bit as violent as when his spark ignited, the 'walk flung him out of the throne room and across the Blind Eternities in the space of a moment. He reappeared on a mountainside, the air around him clear and crisp. He was well above the tree line on an unknown mountain on an unknown plane. There was no stink of Phyrexia, and without Ezuri's claws at his throat his head began to clear quickly in the cool air. Instinctively, he reached out to the mountain. It was uncorrupted and unknown to Koth, and it had been quite some time since he had tried to form a bond with such a place in order to access its mana. It was more difficult than he remembered, so he sat upon a large boulder to close his eyes and focus. He had just touched the molten essence of the mountain when he felt a rough poke at his ribs. Opening his eyes presented him with half a dozen spears pointed at him.
NOTES- As I said before, in this prologue, we begin the story of NPH where Uncharted Realms left off. I have tried to keep the story tied to the game, with references to actual cards where appropriate. I posit that the compleation of Ezuri occurs at the hands of The Progress Engine, making him loyal to/a product of Jin-Gitaxias (this is based off of information available now that Commander 2015 product has been released). I also take the opportunity to kill Vorinclex and put Jin-Gitaxias in the position of #2 in the Phyrexian hierarchy. Gitaxias is smart enough to know that Elesh Norn has toppled 2 other Praetors and certainly has the power to take over his territory as well. To prevent this, I assumed he would naturally place himself in a subservient (and likely subversive) position as advisor. I admit that Koth is immune to the contagion, and this fact is somewhat glossed over. However, we all know the Phyrexians to be tenacious and obsessed with solving the riddle of Melira's inoculation. As it has been strongly implied that the Phyrexians have her in their grasp, it isn't terribly unreasonable (IMHO) to make the logical leap that they have solved or are close to solving the problem of immunity to the contagion. In imagining characters, I tried to imagine what their card would look like. Noting that Ezuri was 2 color, I tried imagining a New Phyrexia where multicolor magic was increasing. Norn conquered Red and Black territories already, obviously. Hence it seemed reasonable that in compleating Jor Kadeen, that the nuisances of individuality and passion would be removed with his connection to red mana, and that his phyrexianized version would be Black/White. His lower half description is a nod to Sheoldred. Venser I reimagined as an Esper colored creature due to having been a U/W planeswalker who was then revived and phyrexianized (having lost his spark, he's a creature). And of course both Elesh Norn and Jin-Gitaxias have been changed by their power. The cards I imagine are:
[Ezuri, Claw of Progress]{UG}
Jor Kadeen, the Corrupted {BW}
Jin-Gitaxias, Grand Architect {UW}
Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines {WUBRG}
Venser Compleated {WUB}
The story will of course involve other characters, and I'll update here as it progresses. I haven't fully nailed down where Koth landed, but I'm 80/20 for Kamigawa/Vryn. Of course, I might have to use an unknown plane. If you read closely, you know why. If you didn't, go back and read again. Did you catch it? No? Then re-read it one more time, and remember this: it only took one drop of oil hitchhiking on Karn to begin the infection of Mirrodin. Ah darn, I gave it away.
I haven't made any major revisions to my previous decklist yet. The Hammer of Purphoros moved to the board (it will stay there until I confirm there is no grindy blue deck pilot in my meta, then probably move out of the 75 for now), and I think I changed my sweeper composition a little. I'll post the exact 75 I play tonight and my record when I finish the tournament tonight. Inferno Titan is still my top end, and I don't have access to a suitable 5-drop to replace Sarkhan in time for tonight, so he's still in there.
One thing I wanted to mention though, in case anyone else sees Slivers in their meta and wonders if I came up with hot tech for the match: I did. Checkout Flamebreak, which is very saucy. The problem I was encountering wasn't that I couldn't play a sweeper or that the Slivers were too big most of the time, it was Sedge Sliver keeping enough of his board alive to continue pounding me the next turn. One for one removal works the first few turns, but with a savvy opponent fetching basics you eventually have to deal with someone who can hardcast a Collected Company or Sedge Sliver and another Sliver while keeping up regeneration mana.
Anyway, there's not a lot of Goryo's Vengeance in my meta, but there is plenty of Tasigur and Tarmogoyf, so I think all 3 Relics are rocking the main deck.
Sorry I'm so slow to respond. Lot of stuff going on, and I don't get to the forums as often as I'd like.
As far as Hammer of Purphoros and Inferno Titan and how they performed:
Hammer was pretty mediocre. I never played a match grindy enough to call for it outright, and was lucky enough not to see Kolaghan's Command on it. I'm going to move it to the board or out of the 75. I haven't decided yet.
Inferno Titan, on the other hand, was totally bonkers. More than one game 1 went:
Turn 1: Draw, Land, Go
Turn 2: Draw, Land, Go, EOT Burn a dude
Turn 3: Draw, Land, Blood Moon (usually turning every land on the board into a Mountain), Go
Turn 4: Draw, Land, Chandra or Sweeper, Go.
Turn 5: Draw, Land, Koth, -2, Inferno Titan, zap the opponent's face for 3, Go.
Turn 6: Draw, Land, float 6, +1 Koth, fire-breath Inferno Titan for 6, attack with 4/4, 12/6, and 1 point to their dome from the trigger (the other 2 zapping any blocker they dropped). Game.
The kind of game where you never feel even a moment of doubt. Just complete control followed by murderous burn. He was amazing against Abzan, too. There he annihilated everything they threw down as fast as they could throw it down, mopping up anything that avoided an Anger of the Gods or other burn. I'd also like to say that I played a couple of for-fun games, and Inferno Titan was good in them as well. For now, he's definitely sticking around the top end.
I did live the dream once and play Inferno Titan with Hammer of Purphoros in play. The game was over that turn, as he'd already taken 2 hits from Koth mountains and had no blockers.
For now, I'd like to make a couple of tweaks. Hammer out to the board, possibly down to 1 Sarkhan. I don't hate bringing in 2 Stormbreath Dragon in those slots. I'm also going to go on a "tech hunt" and start scouring gatherer for any spicy nuggets I might have missed. I've considered Outpost Siege as a CA engine, but I'd like to check for anything else cool. One thought which jumps out (if you've ever played with or against Pox in Legacy, you'll understand why) is Magus of the Scroll. Cursed Scroll is a strong card if you're sitting on a small hand, or one of just lands. But, because Magus is a creature with 1 toughness, he probably won't make the cut.
I'll let y'all know what I come up with!
1) I would say overall the meta here leans towards control, though aggro is present.
2) Combo is very present here as well
3) I had no idea what the meta was going in, so I took the approach of "Planeswalkers are difficult permanents to deal with and one of red's few sources of CA, removal keeps me safe from creatures, and I need some top end or finisher". I would certainly make meta-based changes to this list going forward.
All that said, here's what I learned:
Blood Moon is the Force of Will of this format. It keeps combo decks in check and forces "fair" decks to stick to a "fair" game plan. In my 2nd round, I played infect. Early removal kept the game manageable, and a turn 3 Blood Moon both games shut him down like a timely FoW will do to legacy infect. I know Modern aficionados hate comparisons to Legacy, but that's my primary eternal format frame of reference. So much like FoW, having a deck with 4 Blood Moon immediately made every game feel winnable to me.
Chandra is great. I was incredulous, but pinging for one matters more than I thought it would. And that 0 ability is just gravy when your hand runs down and you need to find threats to close things out. Sarkhan, on the other hand, was hit or miss. Against Abzan, he was the bee's knees. They never dropped a threat he couldn't kill (thanks to relic keeping goyf down and Siege Rhino being uncastable in a Blood Moon without basics), and once their board was clear it was him and Koth Mountains closing things down fast. Against Slivers, he was awful. Barely removed a threat, then died. Koth is Koth. Hammertime, baby.
Aggro is not a bad matchup at all, thanks to removal for days. But Slivers was rough. They can easily keep pace with our removal (well, the version I played against), and Sedge Sliver is very strong against Skred decks. This guy also ran several basics, and was smart enough to start out fetching basics in each game. I need to start examining other removal spells for Slivers.
Red Sun's Zenith shone brighter than the sun. Is anyone else playing this card? I made the abzan player hate life (RSZ is fantastic against Voice and Finks), and at the end game it was just a conveniently drawn fireball. 2 felt about right. I might try a 3rd, but I could see it being overkill. Also it keeps delve players from gaining additional fuel in attrition matches. Between it and Relic, Tasigur was not a problem for me.
That's the bulk of what I've reconstructed from my notes. I'll try to post more breakdown of card performance later if I can.
This thread has been fantastic for getting brewing ideas for Skred Red! Thanks guys!
I'm new to Modern, but have been a dedicated Legacy and Vintage player for years. I put together a Skred Red list to play next week at Modern for the first time. Here's what I'm working with:
2 Mouth of Ronom
2 Scrying Sheets
4 Koth of the Hammer
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
4 Blood Moon
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Inferno Titan
3 Magma Jet
3 Anger of the Gods
4 Volcanic Fallout
1 Pyroclasm
4 Skred
1 Hammer of Purphoros
2 Red Sun's Zenith
Sideboard
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Spellskite
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Boil
1 Cryoclasm
2 Magus of the Moon
2 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 OPEN SLOT
Obviously, there are some departures from your standard Skred Red list. First, the obvious differences: The addition of 2 Chandra, Pyromaster to fill the Outpost Siege card advantage slot (at the same CMC) to offer (hopefully) a little more flexibility when necessary. Also, the addition of 2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker to help fill the same slot as Stormbreath Dragon on the curve. Though Indestructible is weaker than Protection from White, the additional board control and dominating card advantage Sarkhan threatens could be very strong. I've also included a single main deck Hammer of Purphoros, which presents a variety of useful and interesting interactions. More than one is probably wrong, but giving creatures haste is excellent for Inferno Titan, fine for Boros Reckoner, and allows Koth to +1 a just-played mountain and tap it for mana again (or attack with it); the second ability is utterly backbreaking against grindy control decks. If it plays as well in tournament as it has in testing, I may need to introduce a single Crucible of Worlds to the main deck or sideboard. I'm also not running Lightning Bolt, which I realize is a sin. In all likelihood, if the local meta doesn't call for as many exile effects and sweepers, I'll replace the 3 Anger of the Gods and 1 Red Sun's Zenith with 4 Lightning Bolt. I also stuffed in 2 Mouth of Ronom, as in testing it was quite strong in the mid-to-late game.
The sideboard is some additional hate for Islands, some additional Blood Moon effects (when it's good, it's really good), a couple of Eidolon of the Great Revel to put pressure on people trying to play a flurry of spells (and/or counter-pressure on Burn players, to race them with Koth Mountains). Otherwise it's a lot of Graveyard hate (this deck feels weak to graveyards) and some relevant control pieces (Pithing Needle, Ensnaring Bridge).
I'll post results and tweaks after I finally play the deck next week (I'm headed out of town tomorrow for about a week). Comments or critiques are welcome!
The most experienced player of that type of shops deck in our local meta also happens to run the Uba Mask/Bazaar of Baghdad combo in his deck, as a way to blow out control players while generating card advantage. It's kind of a wonky build, but it has a much greater degree of flexibility against control decks than your old prison shops lists.
Personally, I've been working on a list that hybridizes the best of Nick Detweiler's most recent prison shops deck and the combo shops deck that beat Terranova shops at Bazaar of Moxen. It has a few additions of my own that are particularly good in our local meta, where blue control decks are big and a lot of them pack transformational sideboards to become Oath decks.
There's a local vintage tournament this weekend, unlimited proxies, at a local game store. About a dozen people I know have been testing up a storm. So I don't think shops is dead, just upgrading quietly so blue players don't put together the hot new tech. I mean, a lot of people have found answers to traditional shops threats like Lodestone Golem and Tangle Wire. You don't broadcast your next weapon to the enemy in an arms race until you're ready to use it.
I've tried to come to a satisfactory answer, and I just can't figure it out. Maybe it's because I keep looking at the Super Types and overthinking it. Here we go: after top 8'ing a local Game Day, I got a full-art Nighthowler. Sweet, right?
So I put it in my Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts commander deck (which has a strong enchantment sub-theme mixed in with the "Kill 'Em All" B/W theme). Then I realized I wasn't sure if I could legally bestow Nighthowler on Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts.
On the stack, it's an Aura targeting her, so that seemed legal. But it has the type creature, and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts has protection from creatures. Can I bestow Nighthowler on her? Will it stay attached to her once it resolves, or fall off because she has protection from one of its types?