The blue and red confluences are the best, in that order. I feel like the red should eventually see some play. Mystic is just mean, and those options are pretty good if you have the mana. I may be biased though.
Why are wizards so against leaks in the first place? Regardless of if they want to admit it the early leaks are, as others have mentioned, a sales plus to the prereleases. I understand that they do have a right to release when they want, but they should also understand leaks aren't as bad a thing as they make it out to be.
Even with only one side doing wrong I can't help but dislike the right side more.
His indestructible is very nice, and I guess you could abuse that for a voltron if you wanted. I am just saying that he would work best in a control shell or pillowfort, until you can combo out with something. Just opinion, of course.
he is strong, and offers hand advantage, but he doesn't help your boardstate too much. he may be the best black control commander however.
I try to forget about theros, I actually didn't remember him.
his effectiveness is limited to control shells. This makes a deck with a higher skill cap, forcing you to play retroactively, and in turn, make decisions. the more decision your deck makes, the more likely you are to make that one "nail in the coffin" mistake.
that said i may need to pick up some stuff from theros, it appears i've missed some gems
The gisa value train made my friends quit playing with me for a while. She doesn't take much genius to know how to run her, and you sac some pretty valuable creatures. Just to reanimate them later.
Not to mention deathrender cheats, turn 5 ceaseless hunger? Done
How about a turn 5 xathrid to help with making sure you get a death trigger?
Done
Plus with lords and dampers you can make only your tokens relevant and shut down other token strats with virulent plague and the like, and boost your stuff with things like bad moon.
I haven't posted my list yet, too lazy, andsince the writing of my first post, I have taken kalemne apart for Gisela.
You can try things like ulamog's crusher
Or artisan of kozilek
They are pretty cut throat for some play groups though. Artisan can not only be an annihilation body, but he also reanimates any of your dead fatties with no downside.
Also, have you thought about getting a cavern of souls takes a good deal of fear out of casting fatties. Conditional but useful, just pick whatever you are planning on playing next, since you have a decent spread of creature types.
Looking at your list I can only see sandstone oracle dropping, and as you said, she grants good card advantage. Aegis may be better than faiths shield,but only for the extra experience, and because the attached creature remains indestructible, which isn't as good as protection, but lasts longer in this case. Hmm.
I guess it's just my preference, and I have a decent amount of cycle and cards with cycle, so I rarely have a problem keeping some type of hand.
Also, dreamstone hedron, you could maybe drop archive for its bigger brother, not required, I just think it helps ramp better, even if it costs more startup.
you should try aegis angel, she can make another creature indestructible and she gets experience.
i never thought of putting rogues passage in mine, not bad. i do think you should run greaves as well, i know ou said it is awkward, but you never know when you need that second evasion enabler, plus it can be used to protect someone else while kalemne has the boots, like iroas (who can still die, be bounced, etc. you dont want that mid alphastrike) or auriela, two cards you dont want to be interacted with at all.
just my two cents, i use kalemne as my current deck, and i must say she is very consistent for her colors.
also gisela comes in the pack, why dont you have her, you clearly have enough to ramp into her quickly enough, and by then you should already be set up with kalemne.
So I'm fairly new to standard, but have wanted to get in to the format because it is a fresh atmosphere, in comparison to the lovey-dovey edh playgroups we have (well some of us, but we each have one evil deck just in case).
Even with only one side doing wrong I can't help but dislike the right side more.
I try to forget about theros, I actually didn't remember him.
his effectiveness is limited to control shells. This makes a deck with a higher skill cap, forcing you to play retroactively, and in turn, make decisions. the more decision your deck makes, the more likely you are to make that one "nail in the coffin" mistake.
Not to mention deathrender cheats, turn 5 ceaseless hunger? Done
How about a turn 5 xathrid to help with making sure you get a death trigger?
Done
Plus with lords and dampers you can make only your tokens relevant and shut down other token strats with virulent plague and the like, and boost your stuff with things like bad moon.
You can try things like ulamog's crusher
Or artisan of kozilek
They are pretty cut throat for some play groups though. Artisan can not only be an annihilation body, but he also reanimates any of your dead fatties with no downside.
Also, have you thought about getting a cavern of souls takes a good deal of fear out of casting fatties. Conditional but useful, just pick whatever you are planning on playing next, since you have a decent spread of creature types.
I guess it's just my preference, and I have a decent amount of cycle and cards with cycle, so I rarely have a problem keeping some type of hand.
Also, dreamstone hedron, you could maybe drop archive for its bigger brother, not required, I just think it helps ramp better, even if it costs more startup.
i never thought of putting rogues passage in mine, not bad. i do think you should run greaves as well, i know ou said it is awkward, but you never know when you need that second evasion enabler, plus it can be used to protect someone else while kalemne has the boots, like iroas (who can still die, be bounced, etc. you dont want that mid alphastrike) or auriela, two cards you dont want to be interacted with at all.
just my two cents, i use kalemne as my current deck, and i must say she is very consistent for her colors.
also gisela comes in the pack, why dont you have her, you clearly have enough to ramp into her quickly enough, and by then you should already be set up with kalemne.
anyway, I decided to try my hand with the new eldrazi, utilizing scion tokens to both over-run with surge, and ramp into devastator and herder (for more tokens). the deck seems well rounded to me, but isn't online until turn 4 and sometimes 5 (D:), which is decent in cmdr, but may be too slow in standard
Island-6
Swamp-6
Forest-6
Dismal Backwater-2
Thornwood falls-1
Jungle Hollow-1
Blighted cataract-2
eldrazi skyspawner-2
mist intruder-2
call of the scions-3
natural connection-2
swell of growth-2
eyeless watcher-2
sludge crawler-2
complete disregard-3
spell shrivel-4
swarm surge-2
titan's presence-2
grave birthing-2
Kozilek's channeler-2
blight herder-2
Eldrazi devastator-2
reclaiming vines-2
and please don't tell me to switch/drop colors, i want to run a control shell that can play decent beats, like herder and deva.
i also want acces to the insane bug removal that came out, with shrivel ruining gameplans, and disregard stopping any low power enablers, which may or may not be prevalent. plus they give me feed for herder. ignore cataract, it is in there because i want at least some draw power, and oracle is not that good without actual sultai support, since you can feed your own grave.
just tell me what to drop and pick up to accomplish my gameplan(control beats).