I've been playing around with 1 Ifnir Deadlands. I don't think it's a game changer but it is another untapped "dual" and the sac effect has won me one game so far.
After all the Blight Herder love in the past few pages, I've started running a mix of Smasher/Herder (from just 4 Smashers).
I feel like they are a good complement to each other; herder can fix for smasher/TKS and does nice things like protect against a LOTV minus. It's also super great to have the double process in your pocket for the rare times it is relevant.
I wonder if the new Gideon might be a thing in the sideboard for grindy matches.
Emblem then start plussing on a valakut?
Lantern might not be able to beat an emblem if you can IOK their abrupt decays.
Processing with Wasteland Strangler is available more often than I thought it would be, and it's deceptively relevant in a lot of matchups.
Strangler is such a great card, it lets you interact in such an unexpected way. My favourite one has been eating the card out from under an isochron scepter, but the traditional "process rift bolt, kill swiftspear" against burn is also great. There a lot of cards that say "exile" on them that you don't really think about.
Sorin Lord of Innistrad might be worth a shot, same cost and you get an emblem right away.
To be honest I would rather spend the last slot on a card to shore up my worst matchups (tron, ensnaring bridge decks) but I don't know what that card is
Why are people so high on Sorin? I've never tried him, but on paper he doesn't look all that exciting. Against Burn, yes you can gain a ton of life and likely win. But BW offers you a million other ways to beat Burn. Against midrange/control, his plus ability doesn't affect the board, so you are left with using his minus to build a board or protect him. Why not just run Elspeth instead?
I agree that he is terrible if you have an empty board, but his plus works so well with the backup plan (lingering souls) that it is generally worth it. The +1/+0 doesn't look impressive on the card, but when you plus with some spirits on the board it can be huge. Even if you are on the back foot, giving your smasher lifelink on blocks is pretty good.
Most of the other cards in the deck are pretty good value-wise, he is maybe the one win-more card. Not sure which Elspeth would be good in this deck, Sun's Champion is kind of a nonbo (the minus kills our own creatures). 4 mana Elspeth maybe, but the 1/1 on an empty board is even worse than a 2/2 from Sorin.
I want to like the idea of a one-of Endbringer but it doesn't have the same worst case value that our other creatures have. Strangler is (IMO) our worst creature, but at least it has the potential to come down and kill a dude (or process an ancestral vision). Endbringer is probably just going to die before you get him online.
I would try one in the sideboard for grindy matches. Seems good if you can get him online against an ensnaring bridge deck.
Another one to try out might be Distended Mindbender. It gives another possible nut-draw of
T1 - black source, thoughtseize
T2 - temple, matter reshaper
T3 - black source, emerge mindbender off reshaper, draw a card, double thoughtseize
It was a long day and I didn't take great notes, but here were my matchups:
Round 1 - Bogles (Lost 1-2, Record 0-1)
Not much to say. Game 1 I had a handful of useless removal. Game 2 ratchet bomb was the all-star. Game 3 I couldn't draw any hate and he had the protection from creatures aura.
Round 2 - G/R Nacatl/Bushwhacker aggro (Won 2-0, Record 1-1)
I've always found red aggro to be one of the deck's best matchups. You basically start at 10 life but once you land a Smasher or chain a couple of Thought-Knots there's not much they can do without 3 for 1'ing themselves.
Round 3 - 8-Rack (Won 2-1, Record 2-1)
This was a scary match. Game 1 I got absolutely wrecked by double shrieking afflictions. Game 2 he landed a blood moon which locked us both up for a while but I topdecked my swamp first and got there. Game 3 I don't really remember but I think I got there on souls beats.
Round 4 - Tron (Lost 0-2, Record 2-2)
Game 1 Ugin did me a million damage. Game 2 I hit a bunch of hate but not in the right order. Had an extirpate in my opener but couldn't find ghost quarter so I settled for exiling his Karns. From there I kept up one-for-one-ing his giant stuff with paths and unmaking but eventually ran out of gas and he got two walking ballistas out and killed me from 12
Round 5 - Jund (Won 2-0, Record 3-2)
Game 1 we traded discard spells for the first few turns but his inquisitions couldn't take my thought-knot. Game 2 fatal push on a goyf and souls beatdown got there. Notable sweet moment was sacrificing my reshaper to a LOTV minus and flipping a strangler which then killed her next turn.
Round 6 - Restore Balance (Won 2-1, Record 4-2)
Another scary match. I had the nut draw game 1 with t2 thought-knot, t3 smasher. Beat him down to 2 life and then he hit a restore balance off cascade and wiped my board. Games 2 and 3 were won by wasteland strangler processing his restore balance and stony silence shutting off his borderposts.
Round 7 - Lantern (Lost 0-2, Record 4-3)
A very difficult matchup. I have a lot of relevant hate cards available but once they get two or more mill rocks online it becomes almost impossible to draw them.
Game 2 I punted by cracking a relic with a souls in the graveyard while he still had cards in hand (the tokens could attack under the ensnaring bridge). I spent the rest of the game trying to get two removal spells to kill my own thought-knots and swing in but he locked me down.
Round 8 - Infect (Won 2-0, Record 5-3)
Our abundant discard and removal make this a good matchup. Game 2 I managed to contain my greed and path his elf when he was tapped out on my turn. Thoughtseize the next turn showed me that I avoided a probable lethal vines blowout.
Round 9 - Cheerios (Lost 1-2, Record 5-4)
Game 1 he tried to go off on turn one and fizzled. I managed to keep his engines in check with paths and pushes.
Game 2 I kept a greedy opening hand and died on turn 2 before doing anything. Game 3 I had a handful of removal but he managed to draw enough cards to find the swan songs he needed to protect his guys.
I had a great time playing the deck; I've never won this many matches in a day before, let alone knock on the door of day-2. The deck has game against a lot of different strategies and it always feels like you have a live draw available.
I've only been playing this deck casually but really like some of the new suggestions on the past couple of pages (Lili, Endless One).
New Lili feels much better than Sorin. After playing Sorin I always feel like I need to leave something back to protect him, which conflicts with what you want to do for maximum lifegain. Lili can either protect herself or replace herself. Her ultimate is also much closer to a free win than Sorin's.
It's maybe kind of loose but I've been playing around with a one-of Whip of Erebos. Same CMC as Sorin, same lifelink anthem (that doesn't die on the crack-back) and the buyback ability is not irrelevant.
I feel like they are a good complement to each other; herder can fix for smasher/TKS and does nice things like protect against a LOTV minus. It's also super great to have the double process in your pocket for the rare times it is relevant.
Emblem then start plussing on a valakut?
Lantern might not be able to beat an emblem if you can IOK their abrupt decays.
Strangler is such a great card, it lets you interact in such an unexpected way. My favourite one has been eating the card out from under an isochron scepter, but the traditional "process rift bolt, kill swiftspear" against burn is also great. There a lot of cards that say "exile" on them that you don't really think about.
To be honest I would rather spend the last slot on a card to shore up my worst matchups (tron, ensnaring bridge decks) but I don't know what that card is
I agree that he is terrible if you have an empty board, but his plus works so well with the backup plan (lingering souls) that it is generally worth it. The +1/+0 doesn't look impressive on the card, but when you plus with some spirits on the board it can be huge. Even if you are on the back foot, giving your smasher lifelink on blocks is pretty good.
Most of the other cards in the deck are pretty good value-wise, he is maybe the one win-more card. Not sure which Elspeth would be good in this deck, Sun's Champion is kind of a nonbo (the minus kills our own creatures). 4 mana Elspeth maybe, but the 1/1 on an empty board is even worse than a 2/2 from Sorin.
I would try one in the sideboard for grindy matches. Seems good if you can get him online against an ensnaring bridge deck.
Another one to try out might be Distended Mindbender. It gives another possible nut-draw of
T1 - black source, thoughtseize
T2 - temple, matter reshaper
T3 - black source, emerge mindbender off reshaper, draw a card, double thoughtseize
4 Caves of Koilos
3 Concealed Courtyard
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Godless Shrine
2 Shambling Vent
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
2 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Wastes
Instants/Sorceries
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Lingering Souls
2 Fatal Push
1 Collective Brutality
3 Path to Exile
1 Anguished Unmaking
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
3 Wasteland Strangler
3 Matter Reshaper
Artifacts
2 Mind Stone
3 Relic of Progenitus
Planeswalkers
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Stony Silence
1 Wrath of God
1 Pithing Needle
1 Zealous Persecution
2 Extirpate
1 Collective Brutality
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Path to Exile
1 Ratchet Bomb
2 Disenchant
1 Blessed Alliance
It was a long day and I didn't take great notes, but here were my matchups:
Round 1 - Bogles (Lost 1-2, Record 0-1)
Not much to say. Game 1 I had a handful of useless removal. Game 2 ratchet bomb was the all-star. Game 3 I couldn't draw any hate and he had the protection from creatures aura.
Round 2 - G/R Nacatl/Bushwhacker aggro (Won 2-0, Record 1-1)
I've always found red aggro to be one of the deck's best matchups. You basically start at 10 life but once you land a Smasher or chain a couple of Thought-Knots there's not much they can do without 3 for 1'ing themselves.
Round 3 - 8-Rack (Won 2-1, Record 2-1)
This was a scary match. Game 1 I got absolutely wrecked by double shrieking afflictions. Game 2 he landed a blood moon which locked us both up for a while but I topdecked my swamp first and got there. Game 3 I don't really remember but I think I got there on souls beats.
Round 4 - Tron (Lost 0-2, Record 2-2)
Game 1 Ugin did me a million damage. Game 2 I hit a bunch of hate but not in the right order. Had an extirpate in my opener but couldn't find ghost quarter so I settled for exiling his Karns. From there I kept up one-for-one-ing his giant stuff with paths and unmaking but eventually ran out of gas and he got two walking ballistas out and killed me from 12
Round 5 - Jund (Won 2-0, Record 3-2)
Game 1 we traded discard spells for the first few turns but his inquisitions couldn't take my thought-knot. Game 2 fatal push on a goyf and souls beatdown got there. Notable sweet moment was sacrificing my reshaper to a LOTV minus and flipping a strangler which then killed her next turn.
Round 6 - Restore Balance (Won 2-1, Record 4-2)
Another scary match. I had the nut draw game 1 with t2 thought-knot, t3 smasher. Beat him down to 2 life and then he hit a restore balance off cascade and wiped my board. Games 2 and 3 were won by wasteland strangler processing his restore balance and stony silence shutting off his borderposts.
Round 7 - Lantern (Lost 0-2, Record 4-3)
A very difficult matchup. I have a lot of relevant hate cards available but once they get two or more mill rocks online it becomes almost impossible to draw them.
Game 2 I punted by cracking a relic with a souls in the graveyard while he still had cards in hand (the tokens could attack under the ensnaring bridge). I spent the rest of the game trying to get two removal spells to kill my own thought-knots and swing in but he locked me down.
Round 8 - Infect (Won 2-0, Record 5-3)
Our abundant discard and removal make this a good matchup. Game 2 I managed to contain my greed and path his elf when he was tapped out on my turn. Thoughtseize the next turn showed me that I avoided a probable lethal vines blowout.
Round 9 - Cheerios (Lost 1-2, Record 5-4)
Game 1 he tried to go off on turn one and fizzled. I managed to keep his engines in check with paths and pushes.
Game 2 I kept a greedy opening hand and died on turn 2 before doing anything. Game 3 I had a handful of removal but he managed to draw enough cards to find the swan songs he needed to protect his guys.
I had a great time playing the deck; I've never won this many matches in a day before, let alone knock on the door of day-2. The deck has game against a lot of different strategies and it always feels like you have a live draw available.
New Lili feels much better than Sorin. After playing Sorin I always feel like I need to leave something back to protect him, which conflicts with what you want to do for maximum lifegain. Lili can either protect herself or replace herself. Her ultimate is also much closer to a free win than Sorin's.
It's maybe kind of loose but I've been playing around with a one-of Whip of Erebos. Same CMC as Sorin, same lifelink anthem (that doesn't die on the crack-back) and the buyback ability is not irrelevant.