I played in a small 14 player event this afternoon. I went 3-0-1 using the following list. I know it's more of a hatebears list but the decks are similar enough that it's still topical.
Round 1 vs Naya Burn (win) 2-0
Game 1 saw him drop a swiftspear and burn away my early creatures while hammering me. Finks kept me in the game and I was able to stabilize and drop a smiter and liege in subsequent turns. Game 2 saw a less agrressive draw from him. I was able to keep a board presence and finks kept me out of burn range.
Round 2 vs UR Twin (draw) 1-1-1
One of my good friends was playing a fetch-less twin with blood moon main board and heavy permission. I was light on removal game one and he managed to drop an end of turn three exarch and a turn four splinter twin. I could do nothing to stop it.
We had discussed his deck going into the event and he side boarded out twin to sideboard in swiftspears and young pyromancer. I knew this going in and didn't side in my spellskites but Dromoka's command. He had a highly aggressive hand of four swiftspears and many cantrips throughout the game, allowing prowess to trigger at least once a turn. I stabilized thanks to finks and scooze and played around blood moon. Having four basics main deck proved to be vital to activate scooze. This kept me in the game long enough to grind him out with a smiter, exalted creatures and liege.
Game three saw us try to fake each other out with the sideboarding. I kept my previous board and brought in both skites which proved to be correct as he brought in twin. Skite saved me from a turn four twin as time was called and we went to turn zero. The next three turns saw him get beaten down by my creatures. I was about to swing for lethal on turn four when he tapped down my creatures with cryptic command. It ended in a draw.
Round 3 vs Affinity (win) 2-0
Game one saw him mana flooded. He had to activate a blinkmoth nexus to get past the metalcraft threshold for a galvanic blast on my smiter. I responded with a path to exile. He scooped shortly thereafter.
Game two was the opposite. He never got more than two mana on the board. I used qasali pridemage to great effect; triggering exalted and then taking out blockers. This match was one sided.
Round 4 vs Jund (win) 2-0
Game one was competitive. I was able to keep hierarchs and a finks on the table while keeping him from fetching with mindcensor. The last turn saw him stick a dark confidant and my attack put him down to 3 life. He flipped Lili during his upkeep.
He kept a questionable hand during game 2 and I was able to punish it further with two arbiters and ghost quarter. He only managed to keep green active with a middling scooze while I stuck a crusader and was able to take advantage of exalted triggers . Two turns of this and he scooped with a hand full of bolts.
I think I have the land just about right as I was able to overcome blood moon and also take minimal damage from fetches and shocks. There was only one instance where I didn't have the proper colors available to cast what I wanted to cast when I wanted to cast it. Sixteen colored sources plus four hierarchs seems ample even with my creatures being greedy for colored mana. I plan on adding one more horizon canopy when I get it, perhaps cutting a temple garden. I'm unsure about dryad arbor. It is a land that may as well etb tapped but it can also be vialed in on turn one. I didn't draw it once so nothing can be gleaned from today.
The creatures are powerful and worked well but I'm unsure about them. I noted the following over the course of the day:
-Finks and scooze kept me in games I would have lost without them. I can't help but wonder if the 2 vs 3 drop skew kept me from stabilizing to the point that they were necessary or they were just the thing to keep me in the game against aggressive decks.
-The plethora of resistant creatures made red removal generally ineffective past turn two.
-Wilt-leaf liege was a champ; I was glad to see it every time. Perhaps another should be added.
-Exalted triggers contributed to victory in half the games I played today.
-Today wasn't a good day for search-hate as it only really mattered against jund and he drew poorly.
-This is the first time that mirran crusader didn't just die to a bolt for me; powerful but requires protection.
-I may have come in first over all but feel like it was down to my opponent's bad luck in what should have been the tougher match ups.
The sideboard looks good but contributed in only two matches.
-Dromoka's command should be an all-star but I only cast it one time; my smiter taking out an potential blocker. Needs more testing.
-Thrun was filler. I'm unsure what to replace him with. He was boarded in against jund but crusader ate his lunch.
-Spellskite works like a champ against twin. Always.
Edited for spelling, punctuation and added sideboard commentary.
I played mastery of the unseen in a straight white deck and in and of itself, it's a good card. That being said I don't think it's quite what we're looking for. The cmc means it needs to be cast on the curve to get through permission (where it shines) and that's when we should be playing threats. The fact that you need to pay 3w on top of the casting cost to get a return out of it makes it a card that I don't regret cutting. I think you'd be better off running a durable creature like brimaz, skite or finks. Or maybe a sword that can turn a lackluster creature into a threat.
A little report from last night. I went 3-1 despite having fairly significant mana problems as the result of accidentally playing 21 instead of 22 lands. This resulted in mulliganing to six in four out of eight games and going to five twice. The power and synergy of the cards still carried me through.
Match 1 vs green stompy (Loss 0-2)
Game one saw him playing very agressively and finishing me on fourth turn with the help of rancor. When I tried to pathh it, he responded with a kicked vines of vastwood. I didn't have the mana to cast another path due to having Thalia on the board. Game two saw me have the worst mana problems of the night and I never established a board before having my face beaten in.
Match 2 vs Mardu vampire tribal (Win 2-0)
This deck was the first modern foray for a relatively inexperienced player and it didn't have what it takes to compete. Scooze and voice pulled me through this game on their own with wisp and splicer getting an honorable mention. Mutavault also makes voice tokens just a little bit better; just enough to win combat. Blood baron of Vizkopa came out after I had all but won and was unable to make a serious impact but is still scary.
Match 3 vs RU Twin (Win 2-0)
This deck was a permission and removal heavy; leaning on bolt and snapcaster. I had had mana problems in game one with a heavy white hand and no white mana until turn four and didn't have the second until turn six. Twin player flooded and was scared by my land destruction and fetched for basics. He countered or destroyed all my creatures and proceeded to beat me with a snapcaster until late in the game when I managed to land a Linvala and ground him out. After the match, he confided about how he drew twin the next turn. Game two saw my search hate work marvelously with my opponent missing three searches because of it. He was angered enough by a vialed in bird that he tossed the top four aside and cast electrolyze later in the turn. Fwiw, this was caused by frustration as he was a nice guy throughout the match. Brimaz and stirring wildwood swung for lethal. This was a gambit as he had the mana for end to turn pestermite or deceiver exarch followed by a splinter twin.
Match 3 vs Grixis Twin (Win 2-0)
This was a new modern player that had heard of and feared DnT. Both games were very grindy with both of us being empty handed much of the game and doing a great job of destroying each other's permanents. He cast Inquisition of Kozilek early and often in game one but I managed to establish a board presence and grind him out. Game two saw me bluffing heavily with vial before landing a main phase arbiter while he had a fetch and one other land. This was the highlight of my night. Deceiver exarchs managed to hold up my golem tokens but bird chipped away. I kept him off 4/5 mana for twin with ghost quarter, Tex edge and Thalia. The final turn saw him scoop when I vialed in an arbiter during his upkeep when he would have been able to fetch for his fifth mana producing land. I had him on a two turn clock with bird attacking over his exarchs but had he stuck through it, he likely could have comboed out as there was an island in his top four.
I was pleased with the performance of the deck despite my error in building it. Deck construction a few hours before a tourney is a bad habit of mine as the haphazard sideboard can attest to. I suspect the sideboard needs more removal but I'm hesitant to run dismember and am thinking of trying valorous stance as it doubles as creature protection and can slay even the largest. I think I'll try swapping the flicker/splicer suite for smiter/finks/liege. My suspicion is that the flicker suite is more powerful when combined but when the pieces are disassembled, smiter and friends will have more of a board impact. Lack of flying and the fact that everything is colored will make for a harder match against affinity but that isn't a meaningful part of my meta while grixis certainly is.
I'm interested in ghostway. It strikes me as a high risk-high reward card. At the cost of 2W (+) you have to wonder how often you'll be able to play it, but it does stuff allsweepers, that would normally cause us a loss of board presence if not the game outright. It lets us abuse etb abilities and also resets kitchen finks. The downside is we lose golem and cat tokens. Thoughts?
Interadasting. Out of the recent dnt/hatebears top finishes all are running 22 lands. I had a lot of success running 22 lands in a Wb tempo deck that was limited to 2 drop creatures. Should we rethink 23 land as the rule? Fwiw, these are all small events besides the Pittsburgh GP.
You're missing two lands. I'd think plains/tec edges
What does everyone think of Kabira Crossroads? In my ever so humble opinion, they're not worth the etb tapped as burn is already a strong matchup and elves/merfolk will be hitting us with enough damage that the 2-6 life gained off crossroads won't be relevant while the tempo loss will. Zoo would fall somewhere in between where it could be a difference.
I've tried running this with vedalken certarch and indomitable archangel as a capstone/finisher. The deck worked well enough but took a turn longer to get online unless everything was just right to get metal craft with opal and certarch; in which case it put the tempo of a good draw of being able to both hard cast and vial on the curve in mono-white. It could out-control most control decks but had a hard time of being competitive vs any fast deck. Also, mindlock orb came out too late to matter.
Step #7.5: the card that sculler didn't exile because its exile effect hasn't yet resolved goes back into the target opponents hand. They don't actually get a card because nothing has been exiled yet.
With so much talk of resilience in a creature based deck lately, I thought I'd gather some information in one post for reference purposes. Some entries are purposefully left blank as I don't have expertise in them. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive list but rather a quick reference guide. Entries are in order of cmc and the most restrictive list that could play them. Thus, spellskite is listed in Mono-White despite being universal.
WKytheon, Hero of Akros
Kytheon can become indestructible until end of turn for 2W and if conditions are met transform in to Gideon, Battle-Forged. As such, he has a dramatic effect on board state if supported. If unsupported, he's just a 2/1 and a first turn Kytheon cannot be supported initially.
WWLoyal Cathar
This card isn't traditionally included in DNT and is only listed here because it is a potential option in terms of resilience. It is a 2/2 vigilant creature that can be used to damage opponents or force disadvantageous trades while returning from the grave. In the late game, it can chump block and be "reset" by flicker (see rule 711.4a and 711.7) effects. That being said, it is vulnerable in every way that Kitchen Finks is. It should only be used if budget is limited or perhaps if you're pursuing a human/zombie/soldier tribal list.
2Spellskite
Spellskite is a creature that can redirect threats to itself for and due to it's natural toughness of can withstand lightning bolts and many other damage based removal as well as buffspells . The downside to this is that it's zero power and an artifact which makes it a fat target for ancient grudge and kolaghan's command. Life loss also stacks up fast if you're not using Seachrome Coast.
2WBlade Splicer
How does a 1/1 for 2W figure into resilience? Easy. Built in card advantage. It makes sense to bolt a golem but will an opponent really use one or more mana and a card on a 1/1? Generally they won't and the splicer can make another golem at some point. In the presence of kolaghan's command, electrolyze and anger of the gods; this card looks a lot less useful.
1WWBrimaz, King of Orezkos
Brimaz is a natural four toughness that doesn't die to damage based removal. Mostly. He can also generate a small army of kitties to additionally provide board presence. The downside is that he has limited synergy with the other cards in this deck.
1Kitchen Finks
Finks has persist and thus has a built in extra life so to speak. It can stall aggressive land-bound creature decks like zoo long enough to stabilize and the enter the battlefield life gain can buy a turn or two versus burn or other fast decks. The fact that it can be reset with a flicker effect is gravy. It is vulnerable to exile effects like anger of the gods and path to exile. Furthermore, it is at most a non-flying 3/2 and won't do much to stop affinityflyers equipped with cranial plating.
1WWWArchangel of Tithes
Archangel of Tithes is a five toughness flyer that is thus naturally resistant to damage based removal. It also flies, and taxes either opposing attackers or blockers. This is a built in defense against Splinter Twin or Kiki-Jiki combo decks as well as token decks. Unfortunately, it cannot tax both at the same time without the intervention of something else like Gideon, Battle-Forged or Flickerwisp. The casting cost also makes it difficult to hard cast even for mono-white and ticking the vial up to four is generally a bad idea.
3WRestoration Angel
Resto Angel is the most commonly played four drop in DNT. It's a natural four toughness flyer with flashthat gives an instant response flicker effect. Thus it can save a creature on the battlefield from targeted removal, allow Blade Splicer to make a golem and advance our board position by just being a beater. The disadvantages are that it still costs four mana and is not vial friendly. It's also limited to non-angels so it won't be saving Serra Avenger, Archangel of Tithes or another Restoration Angel. This drawback can be mitigated by the presence of a Flickerwisp but that requires an already strong board presence and is getting into Rube Goldberg territory stack complication.
1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
Liege is a natural four toughness creature that also buffs our green and white creatures. Green and white creatures are doubly buffed, thus a Dryad Militant becomes a threat rather than an annoyance and Finks crosses the threshold into four toughness. Liege has downside of requiring three colored mana that can make it difficult to cast in a mono-white deck. It is also earthbound.
White–Black versions of this deck have great options for recursion. These can be back breaking for an opponent depending on the meta. Scooze packing jund/junk pilots won't be impressed but RUx will be hard pressed to keep up.
BBloodsoaked Champion
Champion is a 2/1 one drop that has an easy way to return from the graveyard. Just attack something with one or more creature which you should be doing anyway. That's hard after a sweeper though. It also can't block.
BGravecrawler
The primary advantage of Gravecrawler is that it can be cast from the graveyard if you control another zombie which between Mutavault and Tidehollow Sculler you should. It also has synergy with Fleshbag Marauder The downside is that you need to control another zombie which isn't a given. It also can't block.
BBBloodghast
Bloodghast is another 2/1 that can't block. This one has haste if you're doing your job and only requires you to have a land enter play to return from the grave. The downside is the casting cost of BB is difficult to cast on the curve.
BBDespoiler of Souls
Despoiler is an interesting card. Unlike the rest of the weenies listed, it is a 3/1, thus making it more easier to set up disadvantageous trades with. It can also return to play at instant speed. It unfortunately requires BB to cast and activate but also requires you to exile creatures from your graveyard. This can be very painful or even advantageous in the face of a goyf.
1BWAthreos, God of Passage
Athreos is a indestructible creature enchantment that requires an opponent to bolt themselves to see one of your creatures go to the graveyard rather than your hand when it dies. This is balanced by the fact that it provides no pressure itself nor can it even block without an otherwise substantial board presence. If Athreos is a creature, you're either winning and he's unnecessary or you're overextended into a sweeper.
2BBDemonlord of Ashmouth
This is a card that is not typically played in Death and Taxes or modern and I don't know why. It is a 5/4 flyer which is a remove or lose proposition for most opponents but that's not enough. Four toughness and undying make it difficult to remove for decks that don't have sweepers or Path to Exile. Sweepers can be nullified with Bloodghast and a fetch. Crack the fetch in response to demonlord's etb sac trigger. There is a strong synergy between Demonlord and the recursive weenies listed above. The downside is that the etb sac nonbos with our flicker effects and having a cmc of four with two black mana may make him difficult to cast.
This post will be updated as time allows. Please recommend entries for it.
Hi gang. I've been running W and Wb version of dnt with at most mild success. My meta is a mix of 75% grixis/burn/jund and 25% everything else. My number one problem is having my creatures dying to constant removal, almost always 1 per 1 rather than sweepers. Any game where I can keep a couple of creatures on the field is competitive.
What does everyone think is the best creature protection suite? I have had the most success on cockatrice with athreos, God of passage. I also have tried main boarding a set of spellskite. Mark of asylum is another that just occurred to me. Curious to know the hive mind's thoughts.
2 plains
2 forest
1 dryad arbor
2 temple garden
4 razorverge thicket
2 stirring wildwood
1 horizon canopy
2 windswept heath
4 ghost quarter
2 tectonic edge
Spells
4 Aether vial
4 path to exile
4 noble hierarch
2 scavenging ooze
2 qasali pridemage
3 voice of resurgence
4 leonin arbiter
2 Thalia, guardian of Thraben
2 aven mindcensor
4 kitchen finks
4 loxodon smiter
2 wilt-leaf liege
1 linvala, keeper of silence
4 Dromoka's command
3 mirran crusader
2 spellskite
3 stony silence
1 gaddock teeg
1 dismember
1 thrun, the last troll
Round 1 vs Naya Burn (win) 2-0
Game 1 saw him drop a swiftspear and burn away my early creatures while hammering me. Finks kept me in the game and I was able to stabilize and drop a smiter and liege in subsequent turns. Game 2 saw a less agrressive draw from him. I was able to keep a board presence and finks kept me out of burn range.
Round 2 vs UR Twin (draw) 1-1-1
One of my good friends was playing a fetch-less twin with blood moon main board and heavy permission. I was light on removal game one and he managed to drop an end of turn three exarch and a turn four splinter twin. I could do nothing to stop it.
We had discussed his deck going into the event and he side boarded out twin to sideboard in swiftspears and young pyromancer. I knew this going in and didn't side in my spellskites but Dromoka's command. He had a highly aggressive hand of four swiftspears and many cantrips throughout the game, allowing prowess to trigger at least once a turn. I stabilized thanks to finks and scooze and played around blood moon. Having four basics main deck proved to be vital to activate scooze. This kept me in the game long enough to grind him out with a smiter, exalted creatures and liege.
Game three saw us try to fake each other out with the sideboarding. I kept my previous board and brought in both skites which proved to be correct as he brought in twin. Skite saved me from a turn four twin as time was called and we went to turn zero. The next three turns saw him get beaten down by my creatures. I was about to swing for lethal on turn four when he tapped down my creatures with cryptic command. It ended in a draw.
Round 3 vs Affinity (win) 2-0
Game one saw him mana flooded. He had to activate a blinkmoth nexus to get past the metalcraft threshold for a galvanic blast on my smiter. I responded with a path to exile. He scooped shortly thereafter.
Game two was the opposite. He never got more than two mana on the board. I used qasali pridemage to great effect; triggering exalted and then taking out blockers. This match was one sided.
Round 4 vs Jund (win) 2-0
Game one was competitive. I was able to keep hierarchs and a finks on the table while keeping him from fetching with mindcensor. The last turn saw him stick a dark confidant and my attack put him down to 3 life. He flipped Lili during his upkeep.
He kept a questionable hand during game 2 and I was able to punish it further with two arbiters and ghost quarter. He only managed to keep green active with a middling scooze while I stuck a crusader and was able to take advantage of exalted triggers . Two turns of this and he scooped with a hand full of bolts.
I think I have the land just about right as I was able to overcome blood moon and also take minimal damage from fetches and shocks. There was only one instance where I didn't have the proper colors available to cast what I wanted to cast when I wanted to cast it. Sixteen colored sources plus four hierarchs seems ample even with my creatures being greedy for colored mana. I plan on adding one more horizon canopy when I get it, perhaps cutting a temple garden. I'm unsure about dryad arbor. It is a land that may as well etb tapped but it can also be vialed in on turn one. I didn't draw it once so nothing can be gleaned from today.
The creatures are powerful and worked well but I'm unsure about them. I noted the following over the course of the day:
-Finks and scooze kept me in games I would have lost without them. I can't help but wonder if the 2 vs 3 drop skew kept me from stabilizing to the point that they were necessary or they were just the thing to keep me in the game against aggressive decks.
-The plethora of resistant creatures made red removal generally ineffective past turn two.
-Wilt-leaf liege was a champ; I was glad to see it every time. Perhaps another should be added.
-Exalted triggers contributed to victory in half the games I played today.
-Today wasn't a good day for search-hate as it only really mattered against jund and he drew poorly.
-This is the first time that mirran crusader didn't just die to a bolt for me; powerful but requires protection.
-I may have come in first over all but feel like it was down to my opponent's bad luck in what should have been the tougher match ups.
The sideboard looks good but contributed in only two matches.
-Dromoka's command should be an all-star but I only cast it one time; my smiter taking out an potential blocker. Needs more testing.
-Thrun was filler. I'm unsure what to replace him with. He was boarded in against jund but crusader ate his lunch.
-Spellskite works like a champ against twin. Always.
Edited for spelling, punctuation and added sideboard commentary.
2 plains
1 forest
1 stirring wildwood
1 mutavault
4 ghost quarter
2 tectonic edge
4 razorverge thicket
4 temple garden
1 horizon canopy
1 windswept heath
Spells
4 path to exile
4 Aether vial
4 noble hierarch
3 Thalia, guardian of thraben
4 Leonin arbiter
3 voice of resurgence
2 scavenging ooze
2 qasali pridemage
4 blade splicer
1 brimaz, King of Oreskoz
4 flickerwisp
3 restoration angel
1 Linvala, keeper of silence
4 leyline of sanctity
1 fiend hunter
2 worship
1 stony silence
2 rest in peace
1 gaddock teeg
2 kitchen finks
2 mark of asylum
Match 1 vs green stompy (Loss 0-2)
Game one saw him playing very agressively and finishing me on fourth turn with the help of rancor. When I tried to pathh it, he responded with a kicked vines of vastwood. I didn't have the mana to cast another path due to having Thalia on the board. Game two saw me have the worst mana problems of the night and I never established a board before having my face beaten in.
Match 2 vs Mardu vampire tribal (Win 2-0)
This deck was the first modern foray for a relatively inexperienced player and it didn't have what it takes to compete. Scooze and voice pulled me through this game on their own with wisp and splicer getting an honorable mention. Mutavault also makes voice tokens just a little bit better; just enough to win combat. Blood baron of Vizkopa came out after I had all but won and was unable to make a serious impact but is still scary.
Match 3 vs RU Twin (Win 2-0)
This deck was a permission and removal heavy; leaning on bolt and snapcaster. I had had mana problems in game one with a heavy white hand and no white mana until turn four and didn't have the second until turn six. Twin player flooded and was scared by my land destruction and fetched for basics. He countered or destroyed all my creatures and proceeded to beat me with a snapcaster until late in the game when I managed to land a Linvala and ground him out. After the match, he confided about how he drew twin the next turn. Game two saw my search hate work marvelously with my opponent missing three searches because of it. He was angered enough by a vialed in bird that he tossed the top four aside and cast electrolyze later in the turn. Fwiw, this was caused by frustration as he was a nice guy throughout the match. Brimaz and stirring wildwood swung for lethal. This was a gambit as he had the mana for end to turn pestermite or deceiver exarch followed by a splinter twin.
Match 3 vs Grixis Twin (Win 2-0)
This was a new modern player that had heard of and feared DnT. Both games were very grindy with both of us being empty handed much of the game and doing a great job of destroying each other's permanents. He cast Inquisition of Kozilek early and often in game one but I managed to establish a board presence and grind him out. Game two saw me bluffing heavily with vial before landing a main phase arbiter while he had a fetch and one other land. This was the highlight of my night. Deceiver exarchs managed to hold up my golem tokens but bird chipped away. I kept him off 4/5 mana for twin with ghost quarter, Tex edge and Thalia. The final turn saw him scoop when I vialed in an arbiter during his upkeep when he would have been able to fetch for his fifth mana producing land. I had him on a two turn clock with bird attacking over his exarchs but had he stuck through it, he likely could have comboed out as there was an island in his top four.
I was pleased with the performance of the deck despite my error in building it. Deck construction a few hours before a tourney is a bad habit of mine as the haphazard sideboard can attest to. I suspect the sideboard needs more removal but I'm hesitant to run dismember and am thinking of trying valorous stance as it doubles as creature protection and can slay even the largest. I think I'll try swapping the flicker/splicer suite for smiter/finks/liege. My suspicion is that the flicker suite is more powerful when combined but when the pieces are disassembled, smiter and friends will have more of a board impact. Lack of flying and the fact that everything is colored will make for a harder match against affinity but that isn't a meaningful part of my meta while grixis certainly is.
Edit: corrected autocorrect
Deck lists at links below.
White with micro-black splash.
WG splash with 21 land at scg premier iq.
Straight-white.
Wg
Craig Wescoe's Pittsburgh GP 4th place finish WG hatebears deck.
What does everyone think of Kabira Crossroads? In my ever so humble opinion, they're not worth the etb tapped as burn is already a strong matchup and elves/merfolk will be hitting us with enough damage that the 2-6 life gained off crossroads won't be relevant while the tempo loss will. Zoo would fall somewhere in between where it could be a difference.
With so much talk of resilience in a creature based deck lately, I thought I'd gather some information in one post for reference purposes. Some entries are purposefully left blank as I don't have expertise in them. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive list but rather a quick reference guide. Entries are in order of cmc and the most restrictive list that could play them. Thus, spellskite is listed in Mono-White despite being universal.
W Kytheon, Hero of Akros
Kytheon can become indestructible until end of turn for 2W and if conditions are met transform in to Gideon, Battle-Forged. As such, he has a dramatic effect on board state if supported. If unsupported, he's just a 2/1 and a first turn Kytheon cannot be supported initially.
WW Loyal Cathar
This card isn't traditionally included in DNT and is only listed here because it is a potential option in terms of resilience. It is a 2/2 vigilant creature that can be used to damage opponents or force disadvantageous trades while returning from the grave. In the late game, it can chump block and be "reset" by flicker (see rule 711.4a and 711.7) effects. That being said, it is vulnerable in every way that Kitchen Finks is. It should only be used if budget is limited or perhaps if you're pursuing a human/zombie/soldier tribal list.
2 Spellskite
Spellskite is a creature that can redirect threats to itself for
2W Blade Splicer
How does a 1/1 for 2W figure into resilience? Easy. Built in card advantage. It makes sense to bolt a golem but will an opponent really use one or more mana and a card on a 1/1? Generally they won't and the splicer can make another golem at some point. In the presence of kolaghan's command, electrolyze and anger of the gods; this card looks a lot less useful.
1WW Brimaz, King of Orezkos
Brimaz is a natural four toughness that doesn't die to damage based removal. Mostly. He can also generate a small army of kitties to additionally provide board presence. The downside is that he has limited synergy with the other cards in this deck.
1
Finks has persist and thus has a built in extra life so to speak. It can stall aggressive land-bound creature decks like zoo long enough to stabilize and the enter the battlefield life gain can buy a turn or two versus burn or other fast decks. The fact that it can be reset with a flicker effect is gravy. It is vulnerable to exile effects like anger of the gods and path to exile. Furthermore, it is at most a non-flying 3/2 and won't do much to stop affinity flyers equipped with cranial plating.
1WWW Archangel of Tithes
Archangel of Tithes is a five toughness flyer that is thus naturally resistant to damage based removal. It also flies, and taxes either opposing attackers or blockers. This is a built in defense against Splinter Twin or Kiki-Jiki combo decks as well as token decks. Unfortunately, it cannot tax both at the same time without the intervention of something else like Gideon, Battle-Forged or Flickerwisp. The casting cost also makes it difficult to hard cast even for mono-white and ticking the vial up to four is generally a bad idea.
3W Restoration Angel
Resto Angel is the most commonly played four drop in DNT. It's a natural four toughness flyer with flashthat gives an instant response flicker effect. Thus it can save a creature on the battlefield from targeted removal, allow Blade Splicer to make a golem and advance our board position by just being a beater. The disadvantages are that it still costs four mana and is not vial friendly. It's also limited to non-angels so it won't be saving Serra Avenger, Archangel of Tithes or another Restoration Angel. This drawback can be mitigated by the presence of a Flickerwisp but that requires an already strong board presence and is getting into Rube Goldberg territory stack complication.
1
Liege is a natural four toughness creature that also buffs our green and white creatures. Green and white creatures are doubly buffed, thus a Dryad Militant becomes a threat rather than an annoyance and Finks crosses the threshold into four toughness. Liege has downside of requiring three colored mana that can make it difficult to cast in a mono-white deck. It is also earthbound.
White–Black versions of this deck have great options for recursion. These can be back breaking for an opponent depending on the meta. Scooze packing jund/junk pilots won't be impressed but RUx will be hard pressed to keep up.
B Bloodsoaked Champion
Champion is a 2/1 one drop that has an easy way to return from the graveyard. Just attack something with one or more creature which you should be doing anyway. That's hard after a sweeper though. It also can't block.
B Gravecrawler
The primary advantage of Gravecrawler is that it can be cast from the graveyard if you control another zombie which between Mutavault and Tidehollow Sculler you should. It also has synergy with Fleshbag Marauder The downside is that you need to control another zombie which isn't a given. It also can't block.
BB Bloodghast
Bloodghast is another 2/1 that can't block. This one has haste if you're doing your job and only requires you to have a land enter play to return from the grave. The downside is the casting cost of BB is difficult to cast on the curve.
BB Despoiler of Souls
Despoiler is an interesting card. Unlike the rest of the weenies listed, it is a 3/1, thus making it more easier to set up disadvantageous trades with. It can also return to play at instant speed. It unfortunately requires BB to cast and activate but also requires you to exile creatures from your graveyard. This can be very painful or even advantageous in the face of a goyf.
1BW Athreos, God of Passage
Athreos is a indestructible creature enchantment that requires an opponent to bolt themselves to see one of your creatures go to the graveyard rather than your hand when it dies. This is balanced by the fact that it provides no pressure itself nor can it even block without an otherwise substantial board presence. If Athreos is a creature, you're either winning and he's unnecessary or you're overextended into a sweeper.
2BB Demonlord of Ashmouth
This is a card that is not typically played in Death and Taxes or modern and I don't know why. It is a 5/4 flyer which is a remove or lose proposition for most opponents but that's not enough. Four toughness and undying make it difficult to remove for decks that don't have sweepers or Path to Exile. Sweepers can be nullified with Bloodghast and a fetch. Crack the fetch in response to demonlord's etb sac trigger. There is a strong synergy between Demonlord and the recursive weenies listed above. The downside is that the etb sac nonbos with our flicker effects and having a cmc of four with two black mana may make him difficult to cast.
This post will be updated as time allows. Please recommend entries for it.
What does everyone think is the best creature protection suite? I have had the most success on cockatrice with athreos, God of passage. I also have tried main boarding a set of spellskite. Mark of asylum is another that just occurred to me. Curious to know the hive mind's thoughts.
Thanks.
Edit: deck list below.
3x Athreos, God of Passage
4x Aven Mindcensor
1x Cavern of Souls
4x Dark Confidant
4x Flickerwisp
4x Flooded Strand
4x Ghost Quarter
4x Godless Shrine
4x Path to Exile
7x Plains
2x Raven's Crime
3x Restoration Angel
3x Serra Avenger
1x Spellskite
2x Tectonic Edge
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1x Vault of the Archangel
2x Vryn Wingmare