- Fossil Firebird
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Mar 13, 2018Fossil Firebird posted a message on Dominaria Spoiler Digest - Who's Who and What's What from the Release NotesI would like to know whether Serra and her realm came back into existence or not. The canon is cloudy there thanks to the novels, and I'm rather hoping she did (so maybe we could see a Serra planeswalker card next set).Posted in: Articles
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Don't think so? I thought mostly she could provide a little bit of aggro if I needed it, but more that she was good at ramping the other Chandras and also letting me flashback my land destruction spells. What would you cut her for?
I do notice that. Though All I need to do is get to three lands and keep them off of three. That's the idea, anyway. I'm not sure if it will work properly, but you can see what I'm going for.
Here's a rough draft. It needs a lot of work.
4x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3x Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
2x Chandra, Awakened Inferno
Spells
4x Boom // Bust
3x Pillage
3x Molten Rain
2x Lightning Bolt
2x Chandra's Triumph
3x Desperate Ritual
3x Pyretic Ritual
4x Trinisphere
3x Chandra's Regulator
Enchantments
3x Blood Moon
Lands
3x Gemstone Caverns
4x Cascading Cataracts
2x Arid Mesa
12x Mountain
Right now, it's kind of all-in on the "explode the world" plan. Which I suppose would be nice, if you get ahead of the opponent. It doesn't seem particularly well-balanced yet, though. Chandra, Torch of Defiance can help me ramp into the Bust side of Boom // Bust, which is nice, and I have my Infernos as another win condition, but still, not sure there's enough here. The loss of SSG definitely hurts in the early game.
Please note: I understand some folks may not like this deck style. I'm not interested in value judgments here. I just want to make the most effective deck I can and am seeking input from folks with knowledge of more cards than I possess. Also note, I am not interested in Ponza. It just doesn't appeal to me. Ideally, I'd like to create something Chandra-flavored that creates some locks via Moon, Trini, and old-fashioned blowing up lands.
So anyway. With things like Cascading Cataracts and some of the other indestructible lands, of course Boom // Bust is great. Your land destruction staples like Pillage and Molten Rain are good. I love the idea of teaming them up with Trinisphere and Blood Moon to totally disrupt the opponent's mana base. Stick a Chandra out there and you have options:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Gives you mana, red-style digging, a win condition, damage
Chandra, Acolyte of Flame - Flashes your renovation spells back, can ramp up other Chandras to their win conditions
Chandra, Awakened Inferno - Deck heavyweight, win con and removal as needed
Chandra, Dressed to Kill - Another cheap Chandra and a way to dig for things, with a win-con that lets you do damage just by casting land destruction spells
Chandra, Fire Artisan - More burn
Chandra, the Firebrand - I like her for copying stuff
Obviously, I wouldn't be trying to run all of these in the deck. I think Torch of Defiance is both my favorite Chandra and the best overall one, but Acolyte and Awakened Inferno would also fit well. ToD helps ramp you into Awakened or even the Bust side of Boom//Bust to get rid of lands and hopefully keep them locked while you march toward your Chandra win. I really like Dressed to Kill; does she have a place here? And of course there is Chandra's Regulator, which is just value, it seems to me. Copying Chandra powers is great, but even the ability to pitch unneeded cards and loot has really saved my hide in games.
Losing Simian Spirit Guide hurts in some ways, but does it have to? That gives us more room to put more of these threats in there. Are Desperate Ritual and Pyretic Ritual on their own enough? Are there other ramp options? I'm thinking Gemstone Caverns is a good option for making sure you're not trying to play keep up all game even on the draw. I'm also considering Boseiju, Who Shelters All, at least in the sideboard, for control matchups.
Would it be good to consider splashing white? Leyline of Sanctity could help me out against discard or things, or just getting burned out. Cleansing Wildfire could be used to exchange an opponent's nonbasic for a basic, essentially, which I then target with other land destruction. Or I'd be able to use it on my own Flagstones of Trokair for that tried-and-true combo.
Or do we splash blue for counterspells and stuff to slow them down early?
Also, are things like Wildfire worth considering? My worry is that it's just too slow to be relevant here. I thought it might be worth doing in case they multiple lands out before we can get ahead of them, to stop them late, but wasn't sure it would be enough. Rather, I figured we ought to focus on the lower end, and getting out Blood Moon, Trinisphere, and blasting lands as early and often as possible.
I could definitely use some advice on what works and what doesn't, and what to put in a sideboard. Please, come one, come all, thoughts and ideas welcome.
Thank you for your help!
Well, let's try to make it as strong as we can. It's something I would play competitively, say. It doesn't matter to me if it actually succeeds. I just want to build a shell for it.
I know, but I don't like a lot of things about Commander, so I want to try to make a typical 60-carder out of the idea, if possible.
Hey, Rosy. I always liked your comments on the spoiler pages!
You are right about all this, but I'm just trying to make a bit of a rogue deck, if possible. One of the problems is that I simply don't know all the cards that are out there like a lot of the really experienced people seem to, the way they know everything. And I thought someone might help me develop a new idea.
I am not necessarily opposed to going other colors, but I would very much like to keep this an Angel-centric deck. I do like the idea of a tempo control kind of thing, disrupting and stalling until we get to the high-powered Angels who will win in the late game.
This I am okay with. I am stubborn and silly enough to try anyway. I'd like to see what the "best possible Angel deck in Modern" is like. We can keep it mono-white or add in some other colors. I'm mostly just curious what's out there that would help with this purpose.
Right. Unfortunately for me, I'm a total sucker for strong themes in a deck. I like stuff to tell a bit of a story, not just jam all the best things of a color together. Sadly, most card games seem to make you choose between "strong" and "fun," at least to me, because theme stuff doesn't often work. My Elf deck was pretty strong.
Anyway. If there's something we can do along these lines, I'd like to see what it is!
I am such a huge Angel fan in Magic. They're my favorite thing, even more than dinosaurs, and anyone who knows me knows how much I love dinosaurs! I wanted so badly to make a cool Angel deck in Modern. I did have one for a time, which was pretty unique. It used Mana Tithe, Lapse of Certainty, Wrath of God, Dawn Charm, Porphyry Nodes, and some other things early. It also utilized Quicksilver Amulet to get out some powerful Angels: Chancellor of the Annex, Angelic Arbiter, Sunblast Angel, Baneslayer Angel. Then there were three legendary Angels in the original build: Reya Dawnbringer, Iona, Shield of Emeria, and Akroma, Angel of Wrath.
The goal was to either slow them down or force them to overextend into wraths, then win with superior creatures in the late game. Here's an example list:
4x Chancellor of the Annex
3x Sunblast Angel
3x Angelic Arbiter
1x Reya Dawnbringer
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
1x Akroma, Angel of Vengeance
3x Austere Command (think I ended up subbing this out for Wrath of God)
4x Mana Tithe
4x Lapse of Certainty
3x Rebuff the Wicked
Artifacts and Enchantments
4x Coalition Relic
3x Endless Horizons
2x Resurrection
4x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
20x Plains
Later versions changed things around. More removal, yes, still things to control the early game. I added more legendary Angels, splashing a symbol each of green and red to have Sigarda, Host of Herons and Gisela, Blade of Goldnight. It was kind of one of those decks where any given Angel came down and made things hard for the opponent.
Of course, when this deck was made originally in 2012, there was a lot yet to come out, and things I didn't know about. Cavern of Souls, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and other things. Now, even more stuff is out, and I'm more than a little out of the loop.
Here's one later version:
1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
3x Angelic Arbiter
2x Austere Command
1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
4x Chancellor of the Annex
3x Sunblast Angel
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
4x Mana Tithe
3x Rebuff the Wicked
3x Silence
4x Quicksilver Amulet
3x Endless Horizons
4x Emeria, The Sky Ruin
19x Plains
Over time, I feel like it lost cohesion, or maybe I just wasn't aware of everything that is there. I've tried versions with Angel of Jubilation (so fun to stuff fetches and other mechanics), Archangel of Tithes, different legendaries (I love Avacyn so much). I considered splashing a bit more green for Time of Need and just building a deck that straight up tutors for a given legendary Angel to suit a particular need.
Lots more stuff has come out, including Giada, and now white is (slowly) getting access to card draw and, at least in the one case, conditional mana ramp. I'm looking at maybe going back to that original concept: a tempo control deck that disrupts the early game and wins late with superior creatures.
I've even considered using Silence as a way of stopping main phase spells for a turn, having an early game way to say "no creatures this turn" to most decks or the like. Play it on their upkeep, buy yourself some time early. I've used Thalia, Guardian of Thraben to help slow down things, and Leyline of Sanctity for both devotion and to prevent discard, burn, mill, etc. from directly targeting me.
Does any of this make sense? I really want to make this deck work. I'm looking at things like The Book of Exalted Deeds, Giada, Lyra Dawnbringer, maybe something like Oust over Path (because ramping the opponent hurts more than their gaining life; we don't care about life gain because if we win, our creatures will beat down a few extra points of life). I've wondered about Settle the Wreckage or other wraths. There's also Resplendent Angel and even things like Segovian Angel to consider.
Basically, any advice you can give me on how to build a unique deck like the one I used to have would be so very appreciated. Bonus points if if includes any form of Avacyn, who was my favorite creature in all of Magic, and I was so angry they killed her off. I could also use some advice on sideboard stuff. I liked having answers for lots of different things in the deck, and I liked being able to adapt to different threats. Here's hoping we can make something workable!
Thank you!
Storyline-wise, I'd be surprised if Elspeth doesn't get "free" by the end of it and return to her old planeswalking ways. One thing I'm curious about is whether we will see Gideon in Ilysia or not.
It's meant to be a silly joke, playing off the fact that Marwyn is a mom of sorts, or "midwife to mothers and leader to all." It's not because it's the best Elf deck ever made, though I rather like it. Our meta has a decent variety of stuff, so I'd like a good sideboard that works well against most of the commonly-played top decks. Or at least, is functional against them. Any suggestions?
The idea was to have redundant win conditions. Marwyn, a very underappreciated card, has my favorite Elf art and is also a mana-producing wincon-enabler, and can herself turn into a wincon as she powers up. Of course, Ezuri is the classic method of Elves getting so strong they tear planes in half and beat opponents with each piece. Joraga Warcaller is also another great mana sink, especially with Cavern, and also further enhances Marwyn. I can hard-cast Akroma's Memorial or get it off of a Genesis Wave, and it also turns my Elves into beaters even without EZ E.
Winding Way now merits some consideration, and the sideboard definitely needs help here. I'm not sure what to sideboard. Damping Sphere and the like, I think, but I wanted to sort out the main 60. I've considered Primal Command both for grave hate and for getting its other uses.
I'm also thinking it needs at least one Boseiju, Who Shelters All, to help punch through those critical Waves and CoCos against control.
At any rate, fellow Elves, I would welcome thoughts, suggestions, and green mana!
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Heritage Druid
4 Joraga Warcaller
4 Dwynen's Elite
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Marwyn, the Nurturer
4 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1 Reclamation Sage
4 Collected Company
Sorceries (3)
3 Genesis Wave
Artifacts (2)
2 Akroma's Memorial
Lands (18)
4 Cavern of Souls
14 Forest
2 Beast Within
4 Heroic Intervention
2 Natural State
2 Reclamation Sage
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Tajuru Preserver
I just hope that the set does so well there's a Modern Horizons 2.
Oof, that is pretty brutal...you'd have to attack with the Spitfire before unloading all your burn spells, but you could potentially kill your opponent in one attack! Cavalcade on 2, Spitfire on 3, attack on four, throw a Lightning Bolt, a Shock, and something else, and they die if they can't rid of the creature (taking 1 from Cavalcade, Spitfire goes up to 4 power, 3 from Bolt, Spitfire up to 7, 2 from shock, Spitfire up to 10, a Skullcrack or something does it). Doesn't require a god hand, just a bit of a nut draw. I may have to pick up Cavalcade, since I was looking to make a Chandra-based deck with the Spitfire, anyway!
To put it simply, and none too flatteringly, they probably don't care much. If Arena is making them money, and obviously it is, they're clearly not very interested in putting out a well-balanced product. Arena has a huge list of issues right now and not one of them has been addressed. The UI, for instance, is in massive need of an overhaul purely for clarity. The amount of things that do not work properly, either due to straight-up error (abilities not firing) or cruft on screen (try targeting multiple cards, or even one with keywords, where your card is blocking the right side of the screen, the arrows are in the way, and the reminder text on the abilities makes it impossible to see the card you're targeting). Instead of fixing that, they add the laughably overpriced Guild bundles that are so chintzy that they only give you some card styles, and not even any copies of the cards themselves. For $20, you get a few styles and sleeves, but no actual cards.
That alone shows they have no interest in creating an introductory product here, or a valid replacement for MTGO. They want only cash, and are charging pretty crazy prices for anything in-game. The game has no decent tutorial for new players. The UI is actively harmful to learning and playing the game. Building a decent card pool requires a lot of grind, which isn't itself a crime, or a huge expense, which when combined with the former is definitely a black mark.
I play Arena because it's fairly popular to stream and it's a way to keep sharp, practicing the game every day. I won't spend money because I won't support the insanely greedy practices WotC is showing here—and I used to think that Blizzard was bad with Hearthstone! Certainly I wouldn't recommend this game to new players, and Wizards needs to be told the many things they are doing wrong. Hopefully they can fix it and make Arena into something great. Right now, I definitely would not classify it as such.
Tezzeret, Master of Puppets?