MTG Salvation

I haven’t been here in a long time, but this looks like a great new card for us.... may dig out the deck again

http://www.magicspoiler.com/mtg-spoiler/saheeli-sublime-artificer/

Thanks.

Ironically, I changed my sideboard the night before. Removing a grafdigger’s cage and adding a second kataki, war’s wage. As I didn’t see Affinity all day it seems a bad decision, but I know if I had kept it I would’ve been paired against Affinity.... Sod’s law and all that.

I know what you mean about Karn. I’m wondering whether double meddling Mage on oblivion stone is the right call. That way the opponent has to remove both if they want to play it, whereas if I have one naming O-Stone and one Karn, then it frees up their removal. Also, if they use Karn to get rid of one, it leaves him slightly more vulnerable to attacks. Thoughts?

I also see there is discussion about additional 1-drops. I’m obviously by no means a pro player, but it really doesn’t feel like the deck needs it. Even with Bugler it feels like it needs more draw....

Had an absolute shocker at the Birmingham GP yesterday. Went 1-4! My worst results ever with this deck.

Round 1 vs Naya Burn 0-2
Had to mull to 5 because I had no land. Kept a hand with one forest and two dorks, but didn't draw anything useful so the match was over very quickly.

Game 2 had a starting hand of 7 land and next hand of 6 consisted of 4 land and 2 Chord. Again down to 5 and a similar story to the first game. Think we were finished in 11 minutes. I know getting screwed with mana is a thing, but this felt pretty unbelievable....

(As a side note, we played two casual games as we had so much time left and I won both games on turn 3!!!!)

Round 2 vs E-Tron 2-1
Game 1 went pretty well and combo with mirror entity turn 3.

Game 2 he played a Grafdigger's, Ratchet Bomb and Relic in first two turns! Despite my best efforts I couldn't find a way to get round it all and lost to two thought Knots.

Game 3 went to time and I eventually won on turn 5 after time. Didn't manage to stick any combo pieces and my opponent had all 12 lands out and was topdecking. I CoCo at the end his turn 4 and find two knight of the reliquary (both 8/8) with him on an empty hand, 8 life and one blocker.

Round 3 vs GW Hatebears 0-2
What an awful match up this was.

Game 1 he stuck two arbiters early and then CoCo to find two Loxodon Smiters and there was nothing I could do.

Game 2 was a similar story and I can't really remember how the match panned out.

Round 4 vs Bant Human Company 0-2
Game 1 was very very close although he topdecked a Thalia's Lieutenant with a full board of weenies.

Game 2 was similarly close, but after he had pathed 3 KotR he then played a reflector Mage targeting mirror entity which meant that my guys couldn't trade with all of his creatures, he won the following turn.

Round 5 vs Naya Burn 1-2
Game 1 I think my opponent had the perfect hand and drew perfect cards. Goblin guide, followed by goblin guide, followed by swiftspear followed by 3 burn spells and that was that.

Game 2 I was always in the driving seat and despite losing combo pieces twice two KotR got me to the finish line.

Game 3 was exceptionally close with both of us being on 3 life. However, against burn I always felt that this was going to be in his favour. I had the infinite mana combo for two turns prior to this but no outlet, he topdecked a skull crack to win. My next card was a Chord, after topdecking 2 lands prior. You should never look!

Had great fun but disappointed that this was the worst the deck has been. On a positive note I didn't feel I lost my games to misplays (which is often the case for me), but rather the deck just didn't work and reminded me how vulnerable it is to excessive interaction.... Especially against Hatebears I always felt I was on the back foot, anyone got any suggestions/recommendations?

Anyway, going to have a break from this build and see if I can build an Abzan Human list

So I went 2-2 at FNM with the list below. Thought I would try something funky and see how it worked out.... ignore the sideboard because this was thrown together with cards I had in my trade folder - note to self: don't decide to build a deck 10 minutes before FNM starts!

I wanted to try and go for an aggressive build that had the potential to combo off at any point.



Round 1 vs KiKi 0-2
Game 1 - started with an iffy hand but got a few creatures out. Opponent played an Orzhov Pontiff in my end step clearing my board, then double Fulminator Mage to stall me. Never recovered.
Game 2 - Started pretty aggressively and beat the opponent down to 7 before he found KiKi combo.

Round 2 vs Eldrazi Tron 2-1
Game 1 - Had an epic hand of Champions and Hierarchs and won turn 4.
Game 2 - Managed to gather a pretty good board state and start beating my opponents face, when he got a Tron lands up and running. Stuck a planar bridge followed by Ugin. End of the game for me.
Game 3 - Mulled to six, keeping hand with Devoted Druid, CoCo, Chord, 2 land and Heirarch. Managed to find infinite mana combo on turn 3, flooded the board, played Samut and swung with everything. Very satisfying

Round 3 vs Merfolk 1-2
Game 1 - Started very aggressively, but misplayed as I swung with lots of weenies and didn't clock my opponent had an untapped Aether Vial. Flashed in Master of the Tides, opted not to block, went to 2 health and swung for lethal following turn.
Game 2 - Managed to destroy 2 vials after getting Qasali Pridemage back from the graveyard with Eternal Witness and found the infinite mana combo following turn.
Game 3 - This game ended up being long and resulted in lots of 1-for-1 trades. Opponent started getting better board state with lords and had to use my guys for chump blockers. Mutavault eventually killed me.

Round 4 vs Mono White Prison(?) 2-0
Game 1 - Had pretty much god hand. Stuck a Champion early followed by two Hierarchs, then two CoCos hitting 4 Thalia Lieutenant!!! Opponent cursed a lot and scooped.
Game 2 - Opponent used 3 journey to nowhere to shut down aggro early on, but got infinite combo and proceeded to win.

Thoughts
- I had wanted Wild Cantor instead of Channeller Initiate but couldn't find one. Reason being that if I got the combo I could easily fetch back from graveyard. But situational maybe....
- Really wish I had time to put a decent sideboard together that contained spot removal (Path/Bolt) and maybe more hate (Magus of the moon). anyone got any other suggestions?
- Felt really good being very aggressive and always having the ability to threaten the combo. However, as with the Abzan version of the combo - felt very susceptible to removal. Maybe a Spellskite main? Or other silver bullets?
- think that Comabt Celebrant and Samut, voice of dissent were too situational and would possible change for a mirror entity (prevents board wipe and can be finisher with combo) and something else.... Renegade Rallier/Tireless Tracker/Hanweir Garrison etc.

Appreciate that this is a curveball deck and may not have any legs whatsoever.... but was fun testing and would be keen to hear some constructive feedback.

Quote from Walked »

So one nuanced line of play I I'd like to share with everyone that makes a much bigger difference than you think and it seems to get missed a lot:

T1: Birds
T2: Druid
T3: You go to chord for Vizier.

The most common line I've seen from Coco pilots is to Chord for 2; and the most common play from an opponent I've found is to hold removal until you threaten the combo (e.g. cast Chord)

In this situation, Chord for 3. Always.

Two outcomes:
1) They bolt/path your Druid with Chord on the stack. Fine; make sure Druid ends up in the GY (via -1/-1 counters if path). Get Renegade Rallier. Effectively theyve sunk their removal on absolutely nothing except essentially a one turn fog, and you've built board presence.

2) They respond with removal AFTER Chord resolves. We have infinite mana at instant speed. Float a ton of it, let the removal resolve, do what you need to do.

This is a tactic I've opted to use in a number of games where opponent is holding up free land in my turn. Also puts you in a strong position if you can wait until the end of their turn. You can either utilise them tapping out (obviously unlikely if they're holding up removal) or, can respond to something they've played (i.e. Needing pridemage, spellskite, selfless spirit, flickerwisp etc) or even continue with your own plan.

Important to remember that you can always chose a creature for less than 3 if needed.

Meant to say that in my last post that is another change I will make is to go to 4 witness.

My opinion wouldn't be to ditch the combo as this is one of the main wincons. I've opted to play selfless spirit in the main. With an additional one in the sideboard. This has been quite successful against sweepers, although does need a longer gameplan.

I've also been trilling mirror entity in the main and this prevented two board wipes in testing last night.

Also, with renegade rallier and eternal witness you have the means of getting the combo pieces back (unless the opponent manages to Path all 4 druids!)

Quote from Pokken »

I tried some spell quellers briefly and they are really miserable in this deck. Scapeshift just remanded it, but coulda just easily let their scapeshift sit there until they felt like crypticking it or killing it or whatever. Storm and Ad Naus could play around it with remand // pacts, etc.

Knightfall decks I think apply more pressure with creatures and are able to just drop a 7/7 knight and sit back on spell queller. It's different for us in that the pressure is a bit less without resolving additional stuff.

My answer to the combo match has been to race game 1 -- I've T3'd combo decks often enough that if they don't have a nut draw I win.

Game 2 if combo is a big deal in your meta, put 2 pieces of anti-spell hate in the side (e.g. Canonist + Eidolon) and maybe some scullers.

The micro red splash discussed previously also grants Slaughter Games as an option which is largely unbeatable by most combo decks.

Played a modern tournament at the weekend and went 2-3.

Round 1 vs red-deck wins 2-1

Round 2 vs Esper Control 0-2

Round 3 vs merfolk 1-2

Round 4 vs white weenies 2-0

Round 5 vs Eldrazi Tron 0-2

I played two rallier and didn't see the benefit of them at all, so am tempted to go for 4 witness. Also played Rhonas and couldn't believe how many times I wished it was a mirror entity as it would've saved my creatures being pinged. And, so many times I had a township and wished it was a wolf run.... think I might try your list after all

Agree with the majority of your comments. However I'm really liking mirror entity as the finisher rather than ballista. Found that it has also been quite effective even without the combo and without CoCo or Chord in hand.

Anyone else been considering mirror entity?

You can retract in response when you activate the talisman. A better card is Once Upon a Time though... just picture it.

Wat does everybody think of Unsettled Mariner as another Thalia. This looks like it's a sweet addition for a similar effect and could maybe let us trim the Legendary Human, which is awkward in multiples, whereas this one is great in multiples.
Copying this with Phantasmal Image is also sweet vs removal heavy decks. It's a shame the copy can't protect itself.

But between Thalia and Freebooter, I'm often confused which one to play first. Thalia is probably the right one, as her tax has more impact in the early game than later, and if she anyway attracts a removal, there's more chance Freebooter will properly resolve and/or stay on the battlefield for longer time. Opinions?

Depends on the MU really. And whether we're talking about a T2 or T3 play : sometimes you're on one land with a Vial and the 2-drop will etb on T3.
VS Ad Naus, they generate enough mana so Thalia could be useless, while FreeB played first could strip their wincon. Thalia would be better just before the turn they can go off, in order to screw their mana math, while FreeB gives intel and opens to a Med Mage against a card they may cast for the win later (sometimes it appears it's better to name Lotus Bloom rather than Ad Nauseam because they're really low on mana, for example).
VS Affinity, FreeB has the possibility to prevent Signal Pest from attacking and can take a Cranial Plating before it etb. Thalia is bad in the MU.
VS Living End, Thalia is priority because FreeB won't be able to stop multiple cascade spells.

And so on. The baseline in mdirange / control MUs is to play Thalia first, because she's legendary (a 2nd copy will be easier to play if the opp deals with the 1st one), she can screw opp's mana, she's a better beater, she's a removal magnet that protects following threats, etc...

do you favor an early or late Lieutenant? I mean, do you aim to make it a very big creature, or to spread counters on as many creatures as possible?

It has to be considered as a Champion of the Parish against midrange and control decks, for the most part. Also post-SB, against combo decks that bring removal spells in, you know the one card they're gonna target is your Med Mage for example, so it makes no sense to grow it while you won't even be able to attack through their blockers. Say you name Collected Company, you better play Lieutenant first and grow it. Your utility Humans will be removal magnets and indirectly protect your big fat Lieutenant. I saw pro players suboptimally slow roll their Lieutenant and waste counters all over the place.

It's the same decision you make when you cast Champion before Noble Hierarch. Those two plays are apparently the most difficult ones to make amongst the basics of the archetype, because I see players make the suboptimal play all the time.

Pumping a Med Mage, a Thalia, a FreeB, an Image, etc... each pump must make some sort of sense in the MU. It makes sense to slow Roll Lieutenant when you face creatures that will stall the ground, and where pumping a flyer will be important. But it may also be more important to slowly and painfully grow your Lieut to break a stalled ground at some point, because it's the only one creature that will be ever able to do it in the game.

what do you do if you top deck a Vial on turn 2? Say you kept a hand with a ton on two-drops... You delay your spell to cast Vial anyway? Or you just ignore it for now and you'll play it on turn 3+ along with a two-drops when you get to land #3 (or untap with Hierarch)?

Once again, MU dependant. Say you play VS Ponza, I believe you want your Vial high priority on T2 and ignore your 2-drops. VS Burn, don't you fear Eidolon of the Great Revel so Vial would be key not to take a million damage ?

Your questions are very interesting and there's no baseline to follow, it's always wrong to think a card has always priority over another one in this deck, it systematically depends on what you face.