I know its only been 2 weeks, but the meta has evolved enough that that list, while great, is behind the times. The latest update cuts Eldritch Evolutions for Okos. Huge boost for fair matchups.
Yes, its rare. It can be very relevant: these decks demand more white mana than ever before (Giver of Runes, Elad Call, Ranger Captain) so your G/W lands and mana dorks are tapping for W. So the dark ritual for green can be very good.
I'm assuming what you're really getting at is "why Vines over other protective spells?" The answer is that Vines does so many things. In addition to protection and buffs, it can, for example prevent your opponent from equipping their creatures. Once you see that angle, its a pretty useful card.
Commune With Nature effects have been played in the past, in other Druid combo shells. They were cut when better cards were printed. Once Upon a Time is not so much better than Commune that we cut new, good cards like Elad Call or Finale.
Regarding Stoneforge:
Viridian Longbow is required. Having it in the deck means that, after you have infinite mana, Stoneforge becomes another win-the-game tutor just like Elad Call or Finale.
Sword of Light and Shadow has become the default equipment in most of these lists. Both protection colors are super relevant, lifegain gives us more time to combo, and the Raise Dead effect is great in a deck full of shoot-on-sight creatures. Some people are even on Qasali Pridemage or the Caterpillar, just to abuse it more (which is likely incorrect)
I'm on the Stoneforge package now. It's definitely interesting. I'm not sure how good it is yet. I'm not crazy enough to play 4 colors, but I am on the light blue splash.
One thing I was introduced to, that is meager for the Stoneforge shell but ideal for all-in Druid combo: Vines of Vastwood. More protection is always welcome, but when Druid is online Vines is also a Dark Ritual!
I figure getting a greaves into play allows us to stick a Druid permanently
@Torpf I think you are FAR underestimating Greaves. It gives Druid haste, it gives Stepmom haste and protection (relevant because she can't protect herself), and it gives Shalai protection (she also cannot protect herself). I expect Greaves to be nutty good. I've just never found a way to slot it in. I'm excited to hear the results of your experiment!
4 Call, 4 Devastation, 4 Eldritch Evolution, and some number of Postmortem Lunge was known to be a strong shell. I'm not surprised to see it doing well.
20 lands and 7 mana dorks is a little iffy in my opinion. Squeezing in a Dryad Arbor is very high value when you're playing 4 Eldritch Evolution. Cutting the 8th dork over the 20th land (which I've seen people do) is probably correct.
Splashing red ONLY for a single Magus of the Moon maindeck seems super greedy to me.
Infinite life does indeed beat a lot of decks, but it also scoops to graveyard hate which is rampant. Also most of our good card advantage is graveyard based (Eternal Witness + goodies). I've been looking for something less graveyard dependent.
And I ran into Druid Karn. Does anyone have any experience with it?
I cast Noble Hierarch. My riot choice is a +1/+1 counter. When the dust settles, does Noble Hierarch live or die: how does the timing of "enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter" vs a static -1/-1 work?
Long story short, midrange hell is midrange hell. There are a limited number of cards that the opponent needs to answer, so it is easy for the opponent to have sufficient answers. I'm going to be trying something drastically different for now. If the meta gets really fast again, such that creature removal is low, I'd try this again (it thrived in the original Hogaak meta). Otherwise, I'll be on a Druid combo that has card advantage built in.
I can't find my 4th Postmortem Lunge and my Shapers' Sanctuarys, so I'm substituting 1x Ranger-Captain of Eos MD and 2x Vesperlark in the SB. At first I was really reticent to make any deviations from the original plan, but I think these will work out really well as they play very nicely with Lil Teferi. We'll see how it goes tonight!
It's designed to retain as much as possible of that unfair, super fast power of the original neoform+eldritch shells, while surviving in a super fair (lots of removal and interaction) environment.
Turn 2 win is very viable for Devoted Druid decks that are built for it. The problem is discard + removal or counterspells + removal decks become unwinnable. Does your Karn shell reliably and easily beat Jund, Mardu, and UW Control? Or is he just more shenanigans?
I'm assuming what you're really getting at is "why Vines over other protective spells?" The answer is that Vines does so many things. In addition to protection and buffs, it can, for example prevent your opponent from equipping their creatures. Once you see that angle, its a pretty useful card.
Regarding Stoneforge:
One thing I was introduced to, that is meager for the Stoneforge shell but ideal for all-in Druid combo: Vines of Vastwood. More protection is always welcome, but when Druid is online Vines is also a Dark Ritual!
20 lands and 7 mana dorks is a little iffy in my opinion. Squeezing in a Dryad Arbor is very high value when you're playing 4 Eldritch Evolution. Cutting the 8th dork over the 20th land (which I've seen people do) is probably correct.
Splashing red ONLY for a single Magus of the Moon maindeck seems super greedy to me.
And I ran into Druid Karn. Does anyone have any experience with it?
I cast Noble Hierarch. My riot choice is a +1/+1 counter. When the dust settles, does Noble Hierarch live or die: how does the timing of "enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter" vs a static -1/-1 work?
4 birds
4 giver
4 druid
4 vizier
1 duskwatch
1 EWit
1 ballista
2 Neoform
2 elad call
2 Eldritch evolution
3 finale
4 Postmortem Lunge
20 land
4 Windswept Heath
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Temple Garden
2 Breeding Pool
2 Forest
1 Plains
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Waterlogged Grove
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Botanical Sanctum
3 Path to Exile
2 shalai
1 collector ouphe
1 eidolon of rhetoric
2 forge tender
1 Knight of autumn
3 veil of summer
2 shapers sanctuary
It's designed to retain as much as possible of that unfair, super fast power of the original neoform+eldritch shells, while surviving in a super fair (lots of removal and interaction) environment.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/2125174#paper
This is a Pro-Tour list (holy ***** its going to the pro tour ?!?!?), so the SB shows distinct cards, but not numbers of each.
It's super greedy, but I suppose Karn gives it resiliency and flexibility that many Druid Combo lists lack.