Part of me wants to run more creatures to help clock my opponents, but I really don't want to tap out for anything that's not Geist, and in some matchups I don't even want to tap out for Geist.
When looking through creatures with Flash, something looked kind of interesting. Rattlechains. I wouldn't feel bad playing a 2/1 flyer end of opponent's turn 2 (in some cases I've been doing that with Snapcasters against combo), and against a lot of decks, a 2/1 flier turns into a free shock to the face each turn that also trades evenly with a good number of creatures like Goblin Guide or Eidolon of the Great Revel, or in the worst cases, chump block. They can be removed, but then that's a removal that Spell Queller wont need to get hit by later on.
Additionally, if I draw them later in the game, it would provide me 2 major benefits. Blanking targetted removal on spell queller (My major removal magnet), and giving Flash to Geist (Which I've sometimes had sit dead in my hand because a single resolved scapeshift would lose me the game, and I needed to hold mana to counter the spell and then counter/exile the counter.)
As such, I've been thinking of running a list like this.
Currently I'm also considering an esper version for if the people where I play get tired of playing so much combo and thus switch back to fair decks, which would make Fatal Push much better than Bolt, and Linger Souls just an amazing card in general
Okay so after an FNM I went 2-2. Lost to lantern control and storm. How do we beat those matchups? I felt pretty hopeless, specially in lantern matchup.
I haven't played against Lantern Control with this, but storm is fairly simple. Never tap out until right before your own turn, kill their Baraals and Goblin Electromancers right away whenever possible, hold countermagic for their first spliced desperate ritual or Past in Flames, and whenever possible, flash in a snapcaster, Clique, Restoration Angel, or Spell Queller whenever you have mana to spare before you untap. Their storm cards are sorcery speed, so they wont be able to take advantage of it.
Then from there the plan is to just beat them down with flash creatures into burn range before they manage to go off through counters/removal. This is actually a matchup where I'd side out Geist for extra Lightning Helixes or Negate/Dispel
- Eidolon of Rhetoric for Ad Nauseam: Unless he draw the Pact of Masacre, he can't combo you. Even post-SB, he only have two or three answers to the eidolon.
Ad Nauseam can play around eidolon though, with phyrexian unlife in play you can just end step ad nauseam then untap and lightning storm
So, would Gideon of the Trials be a better option for that matchup then?
Won against Nahiri Control 1-1 draw. (Went second game 1)
Game 1 I lost due to just drawing too many lands, paths and brave the elements without enough creatures. I managed to kill one Nahiri, but the second managed to summon Emrakul. I survived with 1 life, but didn't draw a land to begin rebuilding before snapcaster + lightning bolt happened.
Too many creatures overtaxed their removal, and I could just hold back creatures in case of a board wipe. The 4 ghost quarters were amazing for killing collenades and forcing them to commit more mana than they normally would in order to cryptic command by killing their blue sources at the end of their turn. Ranger of Eos was the best card in the deck, especially when fetching 2 thraben inspectors.
I probably would have won had the game not gone to time. My opponent had lost 3 Nahiris, was down to 4 life, and I had 3 creatures on the board, an honor of the pure up, over 20 life, and a Student of Warfare + Mikaeus in hand to refill the board in case of a topdecked board wipe, as well as 2 return to the ranks in the deck yet to be drawn with a bunch of targets in the grave including 2 thraben inspectors.
Won against Death's Shadow Jund 2-1 (Went second game 1)
Game 1 I just got run over by turn 1 discard taking champion of the parish and leaving me with just a hand of soul sisters followed by turn 2 Tarmogoyf, turn 3 Liliana, and turn 4 double death's shadow. An honor of the pure + brave the elements while I topdecked nothing but land and soul sisters.
Game 2: Turn 1 champion of the parish, inquisition took Thalia's Lieutenat. Gather the Townsfolk on turn 2 made for an aggressive opening. Abrupt decay on Champion of the Parish slowed that down, but honor of the pure + thraben Inspector on turn 3 made them threatening enough once again. Tarmogoyf came out on their turn 3, which turned out to be a problem, I assumed that Gideon, Ally of Zendikar tokens would be able to either chump block it while it attacked or let me build up enough advantage that I'd eventually be able to go wide, but they killed him with Temur Battle Rage through a chump blocking Thraben Inspector, and followed up with a 7/7 death's shadow, but ranger of Eos got me my second Thraben Inspector + Student of Warfare while he we too low on life to risk attacking. Liliana, The Last Hope came out but she couldn't kill anything with Honor of the Pure out. Thraben Inspector + Student of Warfare + Sacrificed clue happened, and he surrendered after his draw.
Game 3: Turn 1 inquisition takes Champion of the Parish, so I play a soul sister. He casts a tarmogoyf, I cast a soul sisters + thraben inspector. Liliana of the Veil comes out and makes me sacrifice a soul sister. I kill her on the next turn, losing a thraben inspector and play an accorder paladin. He Thoughtseizes me which makes me discard my ranger but lets me keep my return to the ranks and plays death's shadow. On the next turn I Gather the Townsfolk + Return to the Ranks, returning my Champion of the Parish (though he never actually entered the battlefield), soul's attendant, and thraben inspector to the battlefield simultaniously, getting 2 life, a 3/3 champion, and a clue.
Lost Against 8 rack 0-2 (Went first game 1)
Turn 3 ensnaring bridge followed by getting down to 0 cards by turn 5, and 1 card by turn 4. Enough said. I managed to get him down to 2 life before I got completely locked out of combat damage, but he didn't topdeck thoughtsiezes and I didn't draw Kataki.
Won against Blue-White Control 3-0 (We played again after as well.)
Basically every game boiled down to not overcommiting into board clears, sniping down Celestial Colonnades with ghost quarters/paths, and using brave the elements to kill Gideon Jura and Elspeth through path to exile/supreme verdict/blocking wall of omens. I had something of an advantage in this matchup though since I knew him (We had played a 2 hour control vs control match finals match a while back that had let me see his entire decklist) and he had no idea what I was playing, that or he assumed that I was playing the same deck as I normally do up until game 1.
So, the deck's grind game seemed pretty effective. Thraben inspector, gather the townsfolk and ranger of eos all did very good jobs of overworking removal based decks. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't end up getting to play against the deck types that I had been actively building heavily to deal with aggro/burn decks (which is why I was running 6 soul sisters, combo (which is why I was running Gideon's Intervention and silence sideboard and a low curve that could fairly consistently provide a reasonably short clock), or Tron (4 ghost quarters + stony silence sideboard)
The findings weren't all that shocking. An early ensnaring bridge is a problem for creature matchups, and Ranger of Eos (+Thraben Inspectors) and late game Return to the Ranks are the best grind cards in the deck. Who would have thought?
the biggest surprise was that I had made a mistake and was running one card more than I should have been.
I'm quite interested in Gideon's Intervention as an anti-combo card in the mana dork versions. I found that my biggest issues when playing white-green-blue-red humans was combo decks that I just wasn't quite fast enough to deal with like Titanshift.
Gideon's Intervention can come down on turn 3 (Though when going first, or if they don't have a Simmian Spirit Guide + Through the Breach + Titan or titan fetch on turn 4, turn 4 is fine) with a single mana dork, and give protection from Valakut, not only to you, but also your creatures so that you can actually close out the game unlike with Runed Halo, and it's not like it's dead in other decks too since it can for instance come out against Ad Nauseum, naming Ad Nauseum and force them to remove it before they can go off, possibly buying a turn or two.
What do you guys think about Harsh Mentor in a Human build. Burn will have some players test it.
Harsh Mentor seems like it'll be nice to have if the Vizier of Remedies, Devoted Druid combo turns out to be consistent. Other than that, I don't see it being all that amazing at present given that most builds are currently running Green, White, Black or Green, White, Blue and thus probably don't want to add any more commitment to red than is absolutely necessary.
The thing about Flayer is, and I always had that opinion, it is either really good or incredibly bad. With Bob you get what you expect. Consistant great card drawing what you can rely on.
This is exactly how I feel about Flayer. He's either really good (when you have delirium and/or when your opponent doesn't have a blocker) or very bad when you don't have delirium and opponent has blockers. With Bob you will always draw cards and get value out of him. Flayer much more depends on the situations and circumstances described above while Bob doesn't need all of this to work well-he just needs to live.
It's not all that bad. There's also spot removal that you can use to cover him, and because he has trample, he'll still get through combat damage and trigger even if you remove the blocking creature after blockers are declared.
Dromoka's Command might seem weird, but I'm curious on whether or not this deck has enough synergy with it to make it work as a main deck card.
It synergises with Abzan Falconer, giving the otherwise landbound creatures access to evasion.
It adds a degree of interaction that decks without reflector mage otherwise might not be able to make use of, soft synergising with exalted and deathtouch from noble hierarch and ruthless ripper respectively.
It protects against anger of the gods, a sweeper that Xathrid Necromancer is quite useless against.
Enchantment removal isn't something that's usually good enough to maindeck for, but in this case, it's a nice option, there are a number of problematic enchantments that are nice to be able to remove. Being able to get rid of worships, Phyrexian Unlifes, Blood Moon, Spreading Seas, and Eidolon of the Great Revel on a card that isn't even in the deck for the purpose of enchantment removal is a pretty significant bonus.
The question of course is whether or not 27 creatures is enough to justify collected company. I'm really reluctant to cut any more than one path to exile due to how nice it is to just have unconditional (other than targetting) removal.
As with any deck based around synergistic creatures with multiple <=3 CMC Lords, have you considered moving to Jund colours and replacing the 4 drops with Collected Company?
I felt like trying snapcaster mage in a human deck, so I decided to try out Jeskai. Gather the townsfolk I feel might make it possible to justify splitting between enough human creatures to make Thalia's Lieutenant and Champion of the Parish good, and enough instant/sorceries to make Snapcaster Mage good.
With a low curve and a significant amount of burn spells/haste creatures, it /should/ be able to race Tron and combo decks, while the counterspells have the potential to buy an extra turn. Meanwhile, the removal spells, and eventually reflector mage post sideboarding slow down rush decks while Champion of the Parish and Thalia's Lieutenant become large enough threats to challenge other creature based decks. It seemed to do okay when I played it online, but that's not entirely surprising.
1 Mana (16):
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
2 Mana (18):
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Gather the Townsfolk
2x Mana Leak
2x Lightning Helix
2x Boros Charm
The main problems of building a good Soldiers' deck imho are:
1. It lacks good 2-drops besides Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and most of it's good creatures are 3-drops which means that going with Collected Company and G/W might be the most viable option.
There's the 2-CMC Thalia's Lieutenant as well. Pretty much all the best soldiers are human, so using Champion of the Parish + Thalia's Lieutenant Human/Soldier double tribal is an option.
Something like:
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Thraben Inspector
2x Kytheon Hero of Akros
4x Boros Elite
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Field Marshal
4x Ranger of Eos
4x Path to Exile
4x Brave the Elements
2x Elspeth, Knight Errant
When looking through creatures with Flash, something looked kind of interesting. Rattlechains. I wouldn't feel bad playing a 2/1 flyer end of opponent's turn 2 (in some cases I've been doing that with Snapcasters against combo), and against a lot of decks, a 2/1 flier turns into a free shock to the face each turn that also trades evenly with a good number of creatures like Goblin Guide or Eidolon of the Great Revel, or in the worst cases, chump block. They can be removed, but then that's a removal that Spell Queller wont need to get hit by later on.
Additionally, if I draw them later in the game, it would provide me 2 major benefits. Blanking targetted removal on spell queller (My major removal magnet), and giving Flash to Geist (Which I've sometimes had sit dead in my hand because a single resolved scapeshift would lose me the game, and I needed to hold mana to counter the spell and then counter/exile the counter.)
As such, I've been thinking of running a list like this.
4 Rattlechains
4 Spell Queller
3 Geist of St. Traft
1 Spell Snare
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Helix
2 Electrolyse
3 Cryptic Command
1 Logic Knot
4 Serum Visions
4 Arid Mesa
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Mountain
2 Spirebluff Canal
1 Glacial Fortress
3 Celestial Collenade
With a sideboard of:
1 Dusk//Dawn
2 Distainful Stroke
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Sphinx's Revelation
3 Spreading Seas
2 Stony Silence
Currently I'm also considering an esper version for if the people where I play get tired of playing so much combo and thus switch back to fair decks, which would make Fatal Push much better than Bolt, and Linger Souls just an amazing card in general
Mainboard
-4 Lightning Bolt
-2 Lightning Helix
-2 Electrolyse
-1 Logic Knot
-1 Cryptic Command
Sideboard:
-1 Izzet Staticaster
-1 Anger of the Gods
-1 Dusk//Dawn
-1 Sphinx's Revelation
with:
Main Board
+4 Fatal Push
+2 Collective Brutality
+2 Countersquall
+2 Esper Charm
Side Board:
+1 Flaying Tendrils
+3 Lingering Souls
Obviously also replacing red with black in the mana base.
I haven't played against Lantern Control with this, but storm is fairly simple. Never tap out until right before your own turn, kill their Baraals and Goblin Electromancers right away whenever possible, hold countermagic for their first spliced desperate ritual or Past in Flames, and whenever possible, flash in a snapcaster, Clique, Restoration Angel, or Spell Queller whenever you have mana to spare before you untap. Their storm cards are sorcery speed, so they wont be able to take advantage of it.
Then from there the plan is to just beat them down with flash creatures into burn range before they manage to go off through counters/removal. This is actually a matchup where I'd side out Geist for extra Lightning Helixes or Negate/Dispel
So, would Gideon of the Trials be a better option for that matchup then?
4 Champion of the Parish
3 Soul Warden
3 Soul's Attendant
2 Thraben Inspector
1 Student of Warfare
1 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
2 mana creatures (15):
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Honor of the Pure
2 Accorder Paladin
1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Ranger of Eos
7 Non-creature Spells (7):
4 Path to Exile
3 Brave the Elements
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Windbrisk Heights
13 Plains
2 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Stony Silence
2 Gideon's Intervention
2 Silence
2 Return to the Ranks
1 Rest in Peace
1 Intrepid Hero
1 Riders of Gavony
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Archangel of Thune
Results:
Won against Nahiri Control 1-1 draw. (Went second game 1)
Too many creatures overtaxed their removal, and I could just hold back creatures in case of a board wipe. The 4 ghost quarters were amazing for killing collenades and forcing them to commit more mana than they normally would in order to cryptic command by killing their blue sources at the end of their turn. Ranger of Eos was the best card in the deck, especially when fetching 2 thraben inspectors.
I probably would have won had the game not gone to time. My opponent had lost 3 Nahiris, was down to 4 life, and I had 3 creatures on the board, an honor of the pure up, over 20 life, and a Student of Warfare + Mikaeus in hand to refill the board in case of a topdecked board wipe, as well as 2 return to the ranks in the deck yet to be drawn with a bunch of targets in the grave including 2 thraben inspectors.
Won against Death's Shadow Jund 2-1 (Went second game 1)
Game 1 I just got run over by turn 1 discard taking champion of the parish and leaving me with just a hand of soul sisters followed by turn 2 Tarmogoyf, turn 3 Liliana, and turn 4 double death's shadow. An honor of the pure + brave the elements while I topdecked nothing but land and soul sisters.
Game 2: Turn 1 champion of the parish, inquisition took Thalia's Lieutenat. Gather the Townsfolk on turn 2 made for an aggressive opening. Abrupt decay on Champion of the Parish slowed that down, but honor of the pure + thraben Inspector on turn 3 made them threatening enough once again. Tarmogoyf came out on their turn 3, which turned out to be a problem, I assumed that Gideon, Ally of Zendikar tokens would be able to either chump block it while it attacked or let me build up enough advantage that I'd eventually be able to go wide, but they killed him with Temur Battle Rage through a chump blocking Thraben Inspector, and followed up with a 7/7 death's shadow, but ranger of Eos got me my second Thraben Inspector + Student of Warfare while he we too low on life to risk attacking. Liliana, The Last Hope came out but she couldn't kill anything with Honor of the Pure out. Thraben Inspector + Student of Warfare + Sacrificed clue happened, and he surrendered after his draw.
Game 3: Turn 1 inquisition takes Champion of the Parish, so I play a soul sister. He casts a tarmogoyf, I cast a soul sisters + thraben inspector. Liliana of the Veil comes out and makes me sacrifice a soul sister. I kill her on the next turn, losing a thraben inspector and play an accorder paladin. He Thoughtseizes me which makes me discard my ranger but lets me keep my return to the ranks and plays death's shadow. On the next turn I Gather the Townsfolk + Return to the Ranks, returning my Champion of the Parish (though he never actually entered the battlefield), soul's attendant, and thraben inspector to the battlefield simultaniously, getting 2 life, a 3/3 champion, and a clue.
Lost Against 8 rack 0-2 (Went first game 1)
Won against Blue-White Control 3-0 (We played again after as well.)
So, the deck's grind game seemed pretty effective. Thraben inspector, gather the townsfolk and ranger of eos all did very good jobs of overworking removal based decks. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't end up getting to play against the deck types that I had been actively building heavily to deal with aggro/burn decks (which is why I was running 6 soul sisters, combo (which is why I was running Gideon's Intervention and silence sideboard and a low curve that could fairly consistently provide a reasonably short clock), or Tron (4 ghost quarters + stony silence sideboard)
The findings weren't all that shocking. An early ensnaring bridge is a problem for creature matchups, and Ranger of Eos (+Thraben Inspectors) and late game Return to the Ranks are the best grind cards in the deck. Who would have thought?
the biggest surprise was that I had made a mistake and was running one card more than I should have been.
Gideon's Intervention can come down on turn 3 (Though when going first, or if they don't have a Simmian Spirit Guide + Through the Breach + Titan or titan fetch on turn 4, turn 4 is fine) with a single mana dork, and give protection from Valakut, not only to you, but also your creatures so that you can actually close out the game unlike with Runed Halo, and it's not like it's dead in other decks too since it can for instance come out against Ad Nauseum, naming Ad Nauseum and force them to remove it before they can go off, possibly buying a turn or two.
3 Soul's Attendant
4 Soul Warden
3 Champion of the Parish
1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
1 Thraben Inspector
1 Student of Warfare
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
2 Knight of the White Orchid
2 Accorder Paladin
3 Ranger of Eos
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Path to Exile
3 Brave the Elements
4 Honor of the Pure
Lands (21)
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Windbrisk Heights
13 Plains
Side Deck (15)
3 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Stony Silence
3 Gideon's Intervention
2 Rest in Peace
2 Riders of Gavony
1 Condemn
2 Blessed Alliance
Harsh Mentor seems like it'll be nice to have if the Vizier of Remedies, Devoted Druid combo turns out to be consistent. Other than that, I don't see it being all that amazing at present given that most builds are currently running Green, White, Black or Green, White, Blue and thus probably don't want to add any more commitment to red than is absolutely necessary.
It's not all that bad. There's also spot removal that you can use to cover him, and because he has trample, he'll still get through combat damage and trigger even if you remove the blocking creature after blockers are declared.
4x Cavern of Souls
4x Windswept Heath
4x Marsh Flats
1x Temple Garden
1x Godless Shrine
1x Overgrown Tomb
2x Gavony Township
2x Plains
2x Forest
1x Swamp
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Noble Hierarch
1x Ruthless Ripper
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
3x Dark Confidant
1x Duskwatch Recruiter
2x Anafenza, The Foremost
4x Xathrid Necromancer
4x Abzan Falconer
3x Path to Exile
4x Dromoka's Command
4x Collected Company
Dromoka's Command might seem weird, but I'm curious on whether or not this deck has enough synergy with it to make it work as a main deck card.
It synergises with Abzan Falconer, giving the otherwise landbound creatures access to evasion.
It adds a degree of interaction that decks without reflector mage otherwise might not be able to make use of, soft synergising with exalted and deathtouch from noble hierarch and ruthless ripper respectively.
It protects against anger of the gods, a sweeper that Xathrid Necromancer is quite useless against.
Enchantment removal isn't something that's usually good enough to maindeck for, but in this case, it's a nice option, there are a number of problematic enchantments that are nice to be able to remove. Being able to get rid of worships, Phyrexian Unlifes, Blood Moon, Spreading Seas, and Eidolon of the Great Revel on a card that isn't even in the deck for the purpose of enchantment removal is a pretty significant bonus.
The question of course is whether or not 27 creatures is enough to justify collected company. I'm really reluctant to cut any more than one path to exile due to how nice it is to just have unconditional (other than targetting) removal.
With a low curve and a significant amount of burn spells/haste creatures, it /should/ be able to race Tron and combo decks, while the counterspells have the potential to buy an extra turn. Meanwhile, the removal spells, and eventually reflector mage post sideboarding slow down rush decks while Champion of the Parish and Thalia's Lieutenant become large enough threats to challenge other creature based decks. It seemed to do okay when I played it online, but that's not entirely surprising.
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
2 Mana (18):
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Gather the Townsfolk
2x Mana Leak
2x Lightning Helix
2x Boros Charm
3 Mana (4):
4x Mantis Rider
Lands (22):
4x Flooded Strand
4x Arid Mesa
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Steam Vents
2x Inspiring Vantage
2x Spirebluff Canal
1x Glacial Fortress
2x Island
2x Plains
2x Mountain
Side Deck (15):
4x Reflector Mage
4x Negate
2x Stony Silence
1x Izzet Staticaster
2x Wear//Tear
2x Lightning Helix
There's the 2-CMC Thalia's Lieutenant as well. Pretty much all the best soldiers are human, so using Champion of the Parish + Thalia's Lieutenant Human/Soldier double tribal is an option.
Something like:
That's interesting. Was there an interview with him/her discussing the matchups? I'm curious about how s/he dealt with the lack of evasion.
I guess that 4 paths and 4 reflector mages must have been enough removal to force through their attackers.