I really Agree with the list above. Personally, I like splashing red for K. Command and Bolt, it adds reach to a rather slow/beatdown/tempo deck. As for the Naga ninja, I think that, without evasion or disruption (beyond only the Spellstutter), it is just bad. The card that could really make it go out of control is Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive, it REALLY takes games away if left unchecked, otherwise, it just gets walled by a lot of creature decks or token decks (even affinity can easily block a non-evasive 3/1). since we do have loads of wizards, I guess we could run Wizard's lightning also. as a 6-8th copy of bolt.
Marc, how about a Discord server? I guess a lot of primers here are migrating there, I sure would support it. If we could, I guess we should merge with the polymorph thread, we can create multiple "polymorph" like channels.
So, Plague Belcher hás been great. He's att his worst a 3/2 menace that pings, but in this deck, with vial up, his uses range From a combat trick tô a beatdown finisher in almost every match he shows.
Since he is a 3 drop I only run 2-3 of him in paralel tô 3-4 Diregraf Colossus.
With Gravecrawler on The field he's reliably a 5/4 menace For 3 that pings for one. You can vial It in response to Paths tô save your relevant creatures when The SAC outlet isnt on The field,and also tô Tidehollow trigger to permanently exile a card from opp hand. He's redundancy for The aristocrats finisher, and finally, he's evasive and thats surprisingly relevant.
Hey everyone, I stuck to the ESPER version of the deck. Have all the pingers in this version: Wayward Servant, Diregraf Captain, Plague Belcher and Blasting Station.
I experimented SO MUCH with this build. at one time I was playing Athreos, God of Passage as a extra drain effect. the deck feels more like a aristocrats zombie deck than actual tribal. (although it can switch from combo to beatdown quite reliably).
Before Undead Augur was spoiled, I began testing Soul Diviner in the 75. It was really nuts when he was out with Vial. a 2/3+ that taps to draw, resets your Geralf's Messenger undying, and regulates your vial counters at will, being great at making bluffs and tricks against removal. EVERY GAME I had him out WITH vial I felt Unbeatable. With Augur out I may replace the Diviner, together with Carrion Feeder the deck might have aditional legs on the beatdown plan.
since I play esper, I don't usually run Relentless dead (very black heavy cost and effects for reliable recursion, but It seems like a mono black version might be just as powerful, just not the same strategy. I'm very excited to test the Feeder, not as excited for the Augur but I WILL test him neverthless. wil post my results as soon as I get the new cards on my LGS's modern season.
"Mist-Clan Naga
2U
Creature - Ninja Naga
Ninjutsu 2U (2U, Return an unblocked attacker you control to hand: Put this card onto the battlefield from your hand tapped and attacking.)
Whenever Mist-Clan Naga deals combat damage to a player, create a token that's a copy of Mist-Clan Naga."
Hey, man! Happy to see someone else with the same mentality as me ahahaha. I think Fallen Shinobi has a GREAT effect, and ninjutsu is one very nice mechanic overall. As mister SaffronOlive once reported on his Grixis Ninjas playtest (here's the link https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/much-abrew-grixis-ninjas). the deck feels great to play. Using Cheap and efficient ETB creatures like Snapcaster Mage, Spellstutter Sprite and Vendillion Clique to generate value when we ninjutsu them back to hand is AWESOME. The article in question is from 2017, so the meta has shifted DRASTICALLY, but I still feel like there is good potential in this draft list.
So, basically the deck would play as a disruptive midrange, probably in UB colors, maybe splashing white (Sideboard, Permanent destruction, Lingering Souls, Kaya's Guile), maybe red (Reach, Tempo, Lightning Bolt and Kolaghan's Command). Either Way, we look to have great disruption, while having grind potential and a lot of pressure.
In todays Metagame I don't think a Spellstutter or a Snapcaster would go Unchecked/Unblocked that easily, so maybe we cut on early disruption to focus on early beaters. An Approach similar to Standard's mono blue tempo might be one way to go,I think. Swarming the Field with one mana Flyiers/Unblockables and the 2 mana ninjustu ninjas to keep our hand full with disruption and protection.
Hey Guys, Jim Davis recently 4-1d with the Bring to Light spell based list. His takeaway as you can see for yourselves at the end of the video is that:
Domri is bad. Izzet charm is underwhelming, Sin collector was never used or tutored for. The silver Bullet tutoring aspect of the deck is AMAZING, giving you legs against most if not all decks in the format.
One thing that may be of use to us developing this strategy is focusing on versatile silver bullets like Unmoored Ego and Detention Sphere (cards that disrupt any deck at least a little but are very powerful in specific scenarios). In the Video, Davis suggests running Growth Spiral, Manamorphose and other snowball planeswalkers to fit in the colors that we lack after removing the cards mentioned above.
I guess a PW focused deck wouldn't be the worst idea ever too. most 2 color walkers snowball out of control very quickly. Bring to light, also, helps you find those answers that help you get time and set up your board in any way you like.
Wow, my experience has been greatly different. The combo wins me The game most of The time, and The token beatdown is Plan B in Fair disruptive matchups like Death shadow and The rock.
I guess It IS Just The way we configure our decks.
Well, I agree that its instant speed is important and that a linear strategy is, in many moments, more powerful than overall versatility or longevity over the game. So let me elaborate WHY I considered the change in the first place. On the curve, Sound the alarm is great, the fact that you can hold your removals and answers while holding your token generators is important. Still, it is LINEAR, 2 1/1 tokens for 2 mana are almost 100% of the time a barely playable limited card, it fits our strategy sure, but it makes horrible topdecks, don't apply enough pressure early game against most of the creature decks (shining mostly against control and linear combo) but still making the cut because of CURVE.
Situations where it shines and why: Control matchups dodging counters and BAITING counters at EoT. Racing against linear combo that lacks interaction (in this situation you have to rely on your discard for disruption since linear combo is so consistent, and secondly trying to race with token beats or your own combo, which in fact is also dependant on your deck structure, racing with 1/1s is a lot slower than 2/2s, so if you have multiple Intangible Virtues running 4 Raise the alarm might be more appealing). Chump Blocking, the tokens really help against Grixis DS since their fatties lack evasion most of the time and you can hold removal to time against their Temur Battle Rage. On Curve (feels nice, and the 2 drop slot is very lacking)
Situations Where I want literally anything else in my hand: Late game, as a topdeck: It does not help close out the game on a clogged board.
Against Aggro and midrange creature decks, they literally chump and that's it WHEN they can chump, because spirits/Humans and Hardened Scales and Burn could care less about ground Blockers. Honestly, it helps as a target for our combo and consistency, but thats the point i'm trying to make there are less powerfull ON CURVE options that shine greatly in the late game, trading imediate power (that is not at all THAT powerfull) for late game versatility.
Option I think could be considered: Secure the Wastes, on curve (turn 2 as a replacement for the Call), creates a tokens but becomes a much better late game topdeck, stealing multiple games from my testing.
Maybe a shift in strategy, having most of our token generator on cmc3 since those have a much wider and more powerful range of cards, creating space for more versatile and efficient cards on 2, Lightning Helix, Dreadbore, Terminate... and your preferred choice of 2cmc removal/discard/card advantage.
I'd like to finish by saying that I'm just trying to provoke a healthy discussion around the deck, since it has a lot of potential and problems inherent to the format, that maybe we can't fix yet, I still love Sound the alarm and will continue experimenting with different crazy builds that follow the initial format of this deck's threat. let's keep up the conversation guys!!!
Experimenting with more walkers in The Mainboard, maybe i'll use some Oaths too sice Gideons and lilianas Oath both make tokens It could be a possible exploration route to Beat grindy and Control matchups.
Im really inclined to change sound The alarm for something Else. Differently From L.Souls tokens, these often times get stuck on deffensive and act as chump blockers. Maybe they could be replaced byo something more agressive, or maybe something more disruptive.
Well, this is modern after ALL. We are bound to have a few miserable matchups. What I have found so Far is that Tron is and always Will be The boogeyman of The Format. No matter How much hate we pack they have The best answers to our Lock and Wincon. I keep relying on early discard and fast linear combo. Board out Iona. Board in Terastodon Alpine Moon and Stony Silence.
Not trying to overextend on The Saheeli subject...BUT, she plays Very nicely with out of The board artifacts. One might think artifacts on The board are Nonbos, but as stated above, Bridge might be a tutorable way to Deal with pesky aethervial matchups. With Saheeli Maindeck those artifacts combined with her -2 ability and your wincon replaces The artifact text, transforming Bridge into emrakul and allowint you to attack at The same time. Still subjected tô being bounced. But still much less punishing than ACTUAL emrakul.
Blast Zone is becoming a problem in my traditional builds, pushing me even more towards my UW control build (Which I'll add is doing really well lately.) It seems like every deck that can afford to run it is - it's essentially a slotless Engineered Explosives with no real drawback for decks that dont care about a splash of colorless.
Just run SolemnitySolemnity + Phyrexian Unlife can actually shut down whole strategies, don't detour the deck from the enchantment lock and It is very cool. Meta call obviously, but an important out nonetheless.
Since he is a 3 drop I only run 2-3 of him in paralel tô 3-4 Diregraf Colossus.
With Gravecrawler on The field he's reliably a 5/4 menace For 3 that pings for one. You can vial It in response to Paths tô save your relevant creatures when The SAC outlet isnt on The field,and also tô Tidehollow trigger to permanently exile a card from opp hand. He's redundancy for The aristocrats finisher, and finally, he's evasive and thats surprisingly relevant.
I experimented SO MUCH with this build. at one time I was playing Athreos, God of Passage as a extra drain effect. the deck feels more like a aristocrats zombie deck than actual tribal. (although it can switch from combo to beatdown quite reliably).
Before Undead Augur was spoiled, I began testing Soul Diviner in the 75. It was really nuts when he was out with Vial. a 2/3+ that taps to draw, resets your Geralf's Messenger undying, and regulates your vial counters at will, being great at making bluffs and tricks against removal. EVERY GAME I had him out WITH vial I felt Unbeatable. With Augur out I may replace the Diviner, together with Carrion Feeder the deck might have aditional legs on the beatdown plan.
since I play esper, I don't usually run Relentless dead (very black heavy cost and effects for reliable recursion, but It seems like a mono black version might be just as powerful, just not the same strategy. I'm very excited to test the Feeder, not as excited for the Augur but I WILL test him neverthless. wil post my results as soon as I get the new cards on my LGS's modern season.
"Mist-Clan Naga
2U
Creature - Ninja Naga
Ninjutsu 2U (2U, Return an unblocked attacker you control to hand: Put this card onto the battlefield from your hand tapped and attacking.)
Whenever Mist-Clan Naga deals combat damage to a player, create a token that's a copy of Mist-Clan Naga."
So, basically the deck would play as a disruptive midrange, probably in UB colors, maybe splashing white (Sideboard, Permanent destruction, Lingering Souls, Kaya's Guile), maybe red (Reach, Tempo, Lightning Bolt and Kolaghan's Command). Either Way, we look to have great disruption, while having grind potential and a lot of pressure.
In todays Metagame I don't think a Spellstutter or a Snapcaster would go Unchecked/Unblocked that easily, so maybe we cut on early disruption to focus on early beaters. An Approach similar to Standard's mono blue tempo might be one way to go,I think. Swarming the Field with one mana Flyiers/Unblockables and the 2 mana ninjustu ninjas to keep our hand full with disruption and protection.
Domri is bad. Izzet charm is underwhelming, Sin collector was never used or tutored for. The silver Bullet tutoring aspect of the deck is AMAZING, giving you legs against most if not all decks in the format.
One thing that may be of use to us developing this strategy is focusing on versatile silver bullets like Unmoored Ego and Detention Sphere (cards that disrupt any deck at least a little but are very powerful in specific scenarios). In the Video, Davis suggests running Growth Spiral, Manamorphose and other snowball planeswalkers to fit in the colors that we lack after removing the cards mentioned above.
I guess a PW focused deck wouldn't be the worst idea ever too. most 2 color walkers snowball out of control very quickly. Bring to light, also, helps you find those answers that help you get time and set up your board in any way you like.
I guess It IS Just The way we configure our decks.
Situations where it shines and why: Control matchups dodging counters and BAITING counters at EoT. Racing against linear combo that lacks interaction (in this situation you have to rely on your discard for disruption since linear combo is so consistent, and secondly trying to race with token beats or your own combo, which in fact is also dependant on your deck structure, racing with 1/1s is a lot slower than 2/2s, so if you have multiple Intangible Virtues running 4 Raise the alarm might be more appealing). Chump Blocking, the tokens really help against Grixis DS since their fatties lack evasion most of the time and you can hold removal to time against their Temur Battle Rage. On Curve (feels nice, and the 2 drop slot is very lacking)
Situations Where I want literally anything else in my hand: Late game, as a topdeck: It does not help close out the game on a clogged board.
Against Aggro and midrange creature decks, they literally chump and that's it WHEN they can chump, because spirits/Humans and Hardened Scales and Burn could care less about ground Blockers. Honestly, it helps as a target for our combo and consistency, but thats the point i'm trying to make there are less powerfull ON CURVE options that shine greatly in the late game, trading imediate power (that is not at all THAT powerfull) for late game versatility.
Option I think could be considered:
Secure the Wastes, on curve (turn 2 as a replacement for the Call), creates a tokens but becomes a much better late game topdeck, stealing multiple games from my testing.
Maybe a shift in strategy, having most of our token generator on cmc3 since those have a much wider and more powerful range of cards, creating space for more versatile and efficient cards on 2, Lightning Helix, Dreadbore, Terminate... and your preferred choice of 2cmc removal/discard/card advantage.
I'd like to finish by saying that I'm just trying to provoke a healthy discussion around the deck, since it has a lot of potential and problems inherent to the format, that maybe we can't fix yet, I still love Sound the alarm and will continue experimenting with different crazy builds that follow the initial format of this deck's threat. let's keep up the conversation guys!!!
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1867168#paper
Experimenting with more walkers in The Mainboard, maybe i'll use some Oaths too sice Gideons and lilianas Oath both make tokens It could be a possible exploration route to Beat grindy and Control matchups.
Im really inclined to change sound The alarm for something Else. Differently From L.Souls tokens, these often times get stuck on deffensive and act as chump blockers. Maybe they could be replaced byo something more agressive, or maybe something more disruptive.