MTG Salvation

I don't consider Druid to be a reliable mana source. Between the fact that it always gets killed/discarded ASAP and the fact that turn 1 mana dorks are significantly more valuable in midrange matchups (where mana advantage for use with Eternal Witness is very relevant, as described in my recent post), Druid is the last method of mana production that we can rely on.

Didn't do well this weekend. Compounded my desire to switch back to Abzan Company. However, I realized that my recent losing streaks have been at very small events, where non-meta decks will disproportionately effect my possible pairings. When I looked at the major events over the weekend, I felt favored versus the field.

Also, I realized that Death's Shadow matchup is not QUITE as bad as it could be due to our ability to shoot their Temur Battle Raged guy. It's unfortunate to have to not use Incubation AND hold mana up, but its an important interaction especially when it saves you 10+ points of life. It is an out that I haven't been playing towards and may have won me a match on Saturday if I had realized it at that time.

I think that after resolving Worship, we're more likely to lose the game from all our creatures being destroyed than by Worship being destroyed. So IMO the emblem is approximately the same value as Worship. And that makes Serra a hard pass for me. But she's definitely worth a third look in Counters Company.

His 4 MD Witness + 4 SB Path to Exile are tempting me to return to this version of Druid Combo. My primary reticence comes from trying to support 4x Eternal Witness + MD targets costing approximately 2 to 5, with 21 lands and 7 mana dorks. That's a little too slim of a mana package to slam Witness into CoCo early enough to stay ahead of some decks, in my opinion.

After doing some more reading, I'm going to try the blue splash again. Here's what I'll be playing this weekend:



I'm not sure how the Meddling Mages will perform, but Eidolon of Rhetoric (or any Arcane Laboratory effect) is too much of a hindrance to us for it to be a viable anti-combo plan.

Quote from user-11178414 »

4 Witness and 4 Path are what keeps the deck rolling against GBx,DS and Phoenix imo.

That does sound pretty fierce.

Midrange decks pack a lot of graveyard hate. They're the ideal type of deck to grind against, but the graveyard hate prevents that.

4x Eternal Witness? That's pretty intense. Also increases graveyard dependence.

Revoker hits :

• Walking Ballista from Hardened Scales (which is our primary concern in that matchup)
• Engineered Explosives from Amulet and others
• Lili of the Veil or Lili Last Hope from most black decks that play Fatal Push
• Jace (and Teferi too, but less relevant) from UWx
• Ugin and Oblivion Stone (and Karn, but less relevant) from Tron
• Eldrazi Displacer, Ratchet Bomb, Aether Vial, Kiki Jiki, Saheeli Rai, Gristlebrand, most of Lantern.dec
• Random jank that you don't expect

I couldn't come up with something super Temur per se, so I focused on the URG color identity which thankfully led to Temur concepts.

Mechanics:
Body feeds the Mind - When this creature deals combat damage, if it has power 4 or greater, you draw a card.
Mind fuels the Body - When this creature attacks, you may discard a card. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.

Examples:
Temur Warbeast 1URG
Creature - Beast
Body feeds the Mind
Mind fuels the Body
3/3
It's smarter than it looks.

Pipsqueak Battlerager RG
Creature - Goblin Warrior
Haste
Mind fuels the body
1/2

Temur Warmage URG
Creature - Beast
Body feeds the Mind
4/2

Supply Dropper 2UG
Creature - Bird
Flying
Mind fuels the Body
3/4

IIW:
Deadpool or Deadpool themed

This thread has been fairly dead lately and that makes a lot of sense with KCI and Phoenix making for a very fast format. However, the meta is slowing down a bit, IMO, and will only continue to slow down more. So this version of Druid Combo may be optimal once again.

However, the same problems (other than speed) of the past still plague this deck: midrange and control play plenty of graveyard hate. How are we supposed to beat them if our primary source of card advantage (Kitchen Finks grind) and 1 out of 3 of our secondary sources (Eternal Witness, vs Collected Company and Duskwatch activations) are graveyard based? Anyone have some advice for playing against extensive graveyard hate?

I agree very strongly with your analysis of Linvala. However, I think her effect can be very relevant. That's why I'm keeping the Phyrexian Revoker in my SB for now, even though its primary target (KCI) is gone.

I agree with your evaluation of Tracker. I'm not quite on the same boat with Scooze. Scooze is vital for beating Tarmogoyf decks and decent against Snapcaster/Logic Knot/Search for Azcanta decks. However, it doesn't seem to hate on GRAVEYARD decks properly (which is where I agree with your evaluation of Scooze). Further, to use Scooze effectively as hate, you have to forgo your other development, which is a terrible tradeoff. That is the real reason I'm liking Scooze less. Maybe a 1x Remorseful Cleric over 1x Scooze?

I'm open to increasing the number of planeswalkers and/or pro-black creatures. However, I think Mystic Enforcer, Chameleon Colossus, and Gideon AoZ do not cover all of our weak spots. I think we need something that beats BG Rock. Unfortunately, I think the right answer is Elspeth, Sun's Champion but that's obviously not an option. Could Nissa, Steward of Elements work? I have seen her in a few sideboards. Mirran Crusader is too narrow.

In reference to your sideboard: I'm surprised to see zero Arcane Laboratory effects. Eidolon of Rhetoric is pretty good at keeping Phoenix in the GY and slowing the TitI flip. Also relevant against many other decks. The inability to slam multiple combo pieces in a row FTW is unfortunate, but Eidolon buys so much time in so many matchups.

Quote from AcademyRuins »

I meant that decks that nearly scoop to Magus are often among our best matchups. Sort of like Jeskai playing Stony Silence for OG Affinity. BGx, URx are unfavored for sure. I find UW to be close and favor goes to which ever wants to beat the other more in deckbuilding.

Glad Magus is working well for you. I wasn't siding it in often in my metagame and the nail in the coffin for me was how awkward it is to Evo a dork into Magus since we can't combo without at least a white mana, sometimes two. Do you just not look to Evo into it on turn two much, or do you find it not difficult to fetch Forest, Plains on turn two?

I do agree the sideboard is walker heavy. I've found sideboarding to be all over the place with this deck, so I don't pay a whole lot of attention to them. It seems like they were wanting to beat Control since walkers appear to be at their best in that matchup.

Yeah the lands based decks that basically auto-scoop to Magus are already good enough. Magus is really for shoring up the matchups against BGx, UWx, etc. Beating up on Tron/Scapeshift/etc is just a fringe benefit.

You are right about awkwardness with Magus. I just do my best with it because when it works out, its worth it.

I agree that other people's sideboards are not very informative. But I still look for general patterns. And the online lists CONSISTENTLY play 1x Linvala and I still don't know why!

Quote from AcademyRuins »

Let me know what you thought of Magus. It definitely is a little weird in that you want it most against decks you're generally favored against.

You feel we're general favored against GBx, UW, and UWx?!? If so, then I must be doing something seriously wrong! How are you playing against such disruption heavy decks?

Magus of the Moon was great. He puts some serious fear into opponents. I usually nail my opponent with him in game 2 then side him out in game 3, as the opponent will be playing around him constantly anyways. For my local meta, Magus of the Moon is definitely a good choice. I think if you see more Infect, Grixis Death's Shadow, and Thing in the Ice then the Breeding Pool to support Incongruity is better than Magus (and the requisite Stomping Ground).

That 5-0 list is really heavy on card advantage (as midrange hate?) in the SB, yet no graveyard hate. I'm pretty confused about that. Also, these online lists continue to play Linvala and I just don't know why. Is Affinity so difficult?

Well I'm not ready to try Rallier yet. Shalai is too good to play less than 2 when burn spells rule the world. I am going to trim a Razorverge for an 8th fetch, because I got land flooded a lot recently.

I'm also going to try a Magus of the Moon tonight. -1 Breeding Pool, +1 Stomping Grounds, -1 SB ???, +1 SB Magus of the Moon. While it misses pure GB Rock, its great against GBx, UW, and UWx, which are bad matchups in my experience.
I'm pondering bringing in Magus in other matchups:

• Good vs Tron and Scapeshift, but I don't know that we need much help against them anyways.
• Do we bring it in vs Dredge? While possibly impactful, I think the answer is no as it doesn't stop their removal nor their biggest engine cards.
• Grixis Death's Shadow is low on Bolts these days, so probably worthwhile when on the play. Does it come down fast enough to matter when on the draw?
• Amulet Combo is already a good matchup and it is full of new tech against Blood Moon effects.
• Any other matchups worth considering?

Has this list been discussed? It has 5-0'd on MTGO at least 3 times that I've seen:
http://tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=29703&iddeck=249508
I'm not really sure what it is or what its doing, but it seems to be beating people left and right. Anyone want to weigh in?