You've been doing pretty well! Congrats on the results. Good to see them
I just ordered a second Chandra AoF. I feel it's an amazing addition to this deck!
Great to see some results with the Nahiri build! Chandra AoF is great indeed, fantastic card. I do play one myself too.
I agree on Emrakul, it feels like a secondary win-condition. But Nahiri is too good in this build. So why not play Emrakul as a bonus
And it does win some matches occasionally, when some push-through damage is needed.
As for the big mana matches: I play 2x Blood Moon and 2x Fulminator Mage. Fulminator is also great with Kolaghan's Command. Sometimes it's enough to win, but overall it's still a heavy matchup. We can't win everything
Hello All! This is a deck I've been working on for a while now, if you'd like to read about my justifications please take a look at the deck here (this link takes you to TappedOut.net).
I'd like to know your guys' opinion on ditching the Blood Moons for a Smallpox package. Unsurprisingly, Young Pyromancer is a great payoff card for Smallpox allowing you to eek out value. Smallpox allows you to also fill your graveyard with cards very quickly, justifying the inclusion of Gurmag Angler over the standard Bedlam Reveler. You lose the card advantage engine of Seasoned Pyromancer and Bedlam Reveler but gain a powerful, more general use, form of disruption in Smallpox.
I'd love to hear your thoughts, concerns, and suggestions on how to improve this variant.
I like your deck, but here are some suggestions:
* 24 lands seems a bit too much. Your mana curve tops at 3cmc. I know this decks lacks card draw engines. But 23 lands would be the maximum I think.
* You don't have that much discard outlets. I definitely would go up to 4x Lingering Souls
* Unearth seems perfect in a Smallpox version. Maybee add another one?
Clancaller is a must-include in my opinion. It pump's our team. And is a great mana sink + lord-tutor. Some people still play Visionary on that spot. But with CoCo, Lead the Stampede and Peatland we already have enough card-advantage.
Great you're back into Elves. After looting bann, I feel this deck is very well positioned in the current meta.
@ TheThominator: it feels like a reactive card against flyer decks and therefore optional sideboard material. But I don't know any flyer decks, we need this against.
Besides that, we're a deck that goes wide, not going big
I think it's a good card, but not good enough.
The more I think about this deck, the more I want to add some Once upon a time and Solemn Simulacrum in it. I think I’ll add 2 of both of them. Replacing karn and vessel.
Solemn is a fantastic card here right? It ramps, it chump blocks and it’s replacing itself.
Moreover, it’s a target for stirrings, once upon a time and Vivien. And we play it mostly on turn 3. Sometimes turn 2. Maybee I’ll add 3 to the list
Vivien Reid: surprised not mentioned before. Fit's this deck perfect in my opinion. Uptick for selection, downtick for artifact/enchantment removal (against Dsphere, Stony Silence, Pithing Needle, Spellskite, Platinum Angel etc.) It's downtick is most useful after sideboarding ofcourse. But it's pretty good, to have some maindeck artifact/enchantment removal I think.
Ancient Stirrings: with only 16 legal hits mainboard, I sometimes doubt this card. A mis hit is quiet painfull in a ramp/combo deck. On the other side, it hits most of my sideboard cards and should give a solid game 2 and 3.
Karn, Scion of Urza: Got a place in this deck, to increase the Ancient Stirrings targets and give some additional card advantage. It supports our mid-range and grindy games. Get's better with additional artifacts after sideboarding.
Force of Vigor: great sidebboard card here. You can easily dump your land selection cards into it, when you already found 7 forests.
Ohter: Once upon a time: could be awesome here! It's a potential free stirrings, but doesn't hit belcher. On the other hand: is does hit lands, ramp creatures and wurmcoil. And therefore, I'm really excited about this card. Curious about your opinion.
Birds of Paradise: A lot of decks play this one. But with Chancellor and Vivien I already 'covered' the air-strikes. Which makes Birds just a random ramp card in an mono green deck. I did prefer card selection cards over birds of paradise
Anyways: that's it. As said, currently buying into this belcher deck. Really looking forward playing it.
I'd like to hear you opinion on some of the thought and choices.
@D90Dennis14: I like that list! Some additional thoughts:
- I think Anger > Lightning Helix. As you already have 8 creature spot-removal.
- The Nahiri / Emrakul package is great. I play this combo in a Mardu shell, and feels super fun. I would recommend the full playset of her, in stead of Ajani
- The Heart of Kiran seems super sweet here!
@ MTUgin: I agree, Skred feels well positioned right now. About your deck:
- Why did you include Arcum's Astrolabe? Is it just deck filtering?
- I tested ratchet bomb in the past. It really disappointed. For me it's a great sideboard card and potential sweeper
- I don't see a reason to play Seasoned Pyromancer. It's a great card, obvious. But in a skred shell, it's not pushing it's full potential. The only upside is the turn 3 Spyro, in front of a turn 4 planeswalker.
I don't know. I currently run 22 lands, with 8 fetches. From the remaining 14 cards, only 5 of them are mountain.
If I start replacing basic mountains for Castle Embereth... The mana base is getting too clunky maybee.
I also run 2 blood moons in the SB. Which reduces the impact of this new land in my deck.
On the other side. The potential impact is amazing. Especially with the 1/1 flying tokens from lingering souls.
Final thougts: the wins are bigger, number of losses increases. For me it's a no.
Thanks for your report!! It's competitive for sure
Like you said, Nahiri is indeed a removal magnet. But with her downtick on her first turn, it should be a 2 for 1 most times.
I like you played with Chandra AoF. I think I will try one too soon!
Great list! Good luck with the deck. Hope it's doing well for you.
I think the draw-spell vs 23th land is a good choice. The only replacement I would make, is switching Molten Rain for some Pillage. Better against Whir/Urza/Thopter decks and the Stoneforge Mystic decks.
I have played nahiri/emrakul in a 8 players tournament...
2/1 vs titanshift
2/1 vs affinity
0/0 vs jund (we haven't played, we were already quelified)
Top 4:
0/2 vs urza
Bedlam is great but it's too heavy for this no looting version (x1 + 2 nahiri and 3 lands on g1 and 3x + emrakul on g2 made the day for urza). We can't reach the necessary number of spells in the GY that often so i think i will go with 3 SP (when i'll buy them and 1 bedlam as a second nahiri target).
Btw the deck seems solid... I must decide if i want to go with 3 or 4 lingerings (21 or 22 lands) and if we need that much a wrath in mainboard. 2x chandra AOF is a must. What do you think?
Congrats bij that result by the way. Bit unlucky in the urza matchup
The Seasoned Pyromancer upgrade over Bedlam Reveler, will improve your deck a lot I guess. Without looting, Reveler is too hard to cast indeed.
Chandra, Acolyte of Flame seems like a cool addition. It speeds up the Nahiri ultimate. And can protect herself with the right cards in the graveyard. Don't know what to cut yet. But if you got any test-results with her: please share them
About the Lingering Souls: play 4. It's one of the better cards in the deck and protects our walkers. Especially when you also run some Chandra's.
25 instants/sorceries feels fine. In previous Mardu builds, the pyromancer was part of the win condition. Killing the opponent with a token swarm. I used to play 29 instants/sorceries those days.
But in my current build, Young Pyromancer serves as a defensive block against threats and protecting nahiri. If I'm able to get a least one token out of it, it already paid off. But many times, I fill the board anyways
This list is super sweet. What are the more obvious flaws of it? Anything you feel its lacking apart from T1 looting..?
* You preferibly hit your third land by turn 3 (for Spyro, or the sideboard threats like Blood moon, Kambal, Anger). With 22 lands it's 90.5% / 84.7% chance of that (on the draw/play). This is oke, but not fantastic.
* Sometimes I did drop my 4th land, but missing a W for Nahiri
* Sometimes I'm forced to discard Nahiri with Spyro. That's awkward. But mostly Spyro outperforms in this deck.
Overall: I'm really really happy with it. And it plays out pretty sweet.
Thoughts on the first testings:
* The deck feels more controlling, than the old build (looting+reveler build)
* Without looting, our opening hands are a bit more clunky. But when you hit your 3th land, the Spyro- (and Nahiri)-draws are a good looting replacement
* I really like some extra card draw in the early game. Thinking about 1 or 2 Tormenting Voice
* Seasoned Pyromancer is a fantastic turn 3 drop, in front of a turn 4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
* Emrakul feels like the win-condition Mardu never had. It plays out great (and is really fun :))
* 1 Smiting Helix so far didn't disappoint. But it's definitely a flex spot when sideboarding
* Sideboard feels really good. Wouldn't change a single card at this moment
TTB and Nahiri seems pretty good, I think I would run Seasoned Pyromancer over Bedlam Reveler because of ease of cost and the potential to drop chump blockers the turn before Nahiri hits the board to buy time for the ultimate. The closing power Reveler brings isn't needed as much because Emmy can shut people out pretty hard, especially since the deck still runs a pile of burn spells to close out the last 3-5 life your opponent likely has afterward.
Thanks for your feedback! I thought about it, and you,re right. Spyro > Bedlam reveler in the Nahiri/emrakul build. Less graveyard dependent and bodies on turn 3 in front of a turn 4 Nahiri seems great!
I just bought the playset and will test it soon
Spyro’s included, I have 10 discard outlets now (2x Coll Brut, 4x Spyro, 4x Nahiri). I’ll try some Smiting Helix too I think. Max 2 pieces.
About the SFM build: I like that one. But it will eat an early removal spell for sure. A playset seems legitimate therefore.
I don’t know yet, if Stoneforge Mystic fits the Mardu-style. But very interested in the first game results!!
Despite looting got banned, I won't leave Mardu. I just really like all the cards
Therefore, I came up with a build which only requires a small investment and is still competitive.
I went for the Nahiri / Emrakul combination. The +2 from nahiri could give this deck the consistency in the late game. And Emrakul is the finisher Mardu never had ;-)
Therefore I went up 2 lands. And threw Blood moon in the sideboard.
I know Bedlam Reveler is a nonbo with Emrakul. But if I'm upticking Nahiri to discard Emrakul (to ult her next turn), it wouldn't have matter anyways.
But if Bedlam feels wrong, I can replace them with Seasoned Pyromancer (or even a Dreadhorde Arcanist).
I really regret the Looting bann, but wanted to share my thoughts. May it help mardu rebuild
I just ordered a second Chandra AoF. I feel it's an amazing addition to this deck!
I agree on Emrakul, it feels like a secondary win-condition. But Nahiri is too good in this build. So why not play Emrakul as a bonus
And it does win some matches occasionally, when some push-through damage is needed.
As for the big mana matches: I play 2x Blood Moon and 2x Fulminator Mage. Fulminator is also great with Kolaghan's Command. Sometimes it's enough to win, but overall it's still a heavy matchup. We can't win everything
I like your deck, but here are some suggestions:
* 24 lands seems a bit too much. Your mana curve tops at 3cmc. I know this decks lacks card draw engines. But 23 lands would be the maximum I think.
* You don't have that much discard outlets. I definitely would go up to 4x Lingering Souls
* Unearth seems perfect in a Smallpox version. Maybee add another one?
Good luck with testing
Great you're back into Elves. After looting bann, I feel this deck is very well positioned in the current meta.
@ TheThominator: it feels like a reactive card against flyer decks and therefore optional sideboard material. But I don't know any flyer decks, we need this against.
Besides that, we're a deck that goes wide, not going big
I think it's a good card, but not good enough.
Solemn is a fantastic card here right? It ramps, it chump blocks and it’s replacing itself.
Moreover, it’s a target for stirrings, once upon a time and Vivien. And we play it mostly on turn 3. Sometimes turn 2. Maybee I’ll add 3 to the list
I did read the last 20 forum pages and came up with this list.
4 Goblin Charbelcher
3 Wurmcoil Engine
//Ramp (24)
3 Arbor Elf
4 Chancellor of the Tangle
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Wall of Roots
4 Utopia Sprawl
2 Search for Tomorrow
3 Recross the Paths
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Caravan Vigil
4 Safewright Quest
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
2 Vessel of Nascency
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
2 Vivien Reid
//Land (7)
6 Forest
1 Stomping Ground
2 Choke
2 Damping Sphere
2 Defense Grid
2 Force of Vigor
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Thragtusk
2 Veil of Summer
Some thoughts on cards and possibilities.
Vivien Reid: surprised not mentioned before. Fit's this deck perfect in my opinion. Uptick for selection, downtick for artifact/enchantment removal (against Dsphere, Stony Silence, Pithing Needle, Spellskite, Platinum Angel etc.) It's downtick is most useful after sideboarding ofcourse. But it's pretty good, to have some maindeck artifact/enchantment removal I think.
Ancient Stirrings: with only 16 legal hits mainboard, I sometimes doubt this card. A mis hit is quiet painfull in a ramp/combo deck. On the other side, it hits most of my sideboard cards and should give a solid game 2 and 3.
Karn, Scion of Urza: Got a place in this deck, to increase the Ancient Stirrings targets and give some additional card advantage. It supports our mid-range and grindy games. Get's better with additional artifacts after sideboarding.
Force of Vigor: great sidebboard card here. You can easily dump your land selection cards into it, when you already found 7 forests.
Ohter:
Once upon a time: could be awesome here! It's a potential free stirrings, but doesn't hit belcher. On the other hand: is does hit lands, ramp creatures and wurmcoil. And therefore, I'm really excited about this card. Curious about your opinion.
Birds of Paradise: A lot of decks play this one. But with Chancellor and Vivien I already 'covered' the air-strikes. Which makes Birds just a random ramp card in an mono green deck. I did prefer card selection cards over birds of paradise
Anyways: that's it. As said, currently buying into this belcher deck. Really looking forward playing it.
I'd like to hear you opinion on some of the thought and choices.
- I think Anger > Lightning Helix. As you already have 8 creature spot-removal.
- The Nahiri / Emrakul package is great. I play this combo in a Mardu shell, and feels super fun. I would recommend the full playset of her, in stead of Ajani
- The Heart of Kiran seems super sweet here!
@ MTUgin: I agree, Skred feels well positioned right now. About your deck:
- Why did you include Arcum's Astrolabe? Is it just deck filtering?
- I tested ratchet bomb in the past. It really disappointed. For me it's a great sideboard card and potential sweeper
- I don't see a reason to play Seasoned Pyromancer. It's a great card, obvious. But in a skred shell, it's not pushing it's full potential. The only upside is the turn 3 Spyro, in front of a turn 4 planeswalker.
If I start replacing basic mountains for Castle Embereth... The mana base is getting too clunky maybee.
I also run 2 blood moons in the SB. Which reduces the impact of this new land in my deck.
On the other side. The potential impact is amazing. Especially with the 1/1 flying tokens from lingering souls.
Final thougts: the wins are bigger, number of losses increases. For me it's a no.
Like you said, Nahiri is indeed a removal magnet. But with her downtick on her first turn, it should be a 2 for 1 most times.
I like you played with Chandra AoF. I think I will try one too soon!
I think the draw-spell vs 23th land is a good choice. The only replacement I would make, is switching Molten Rain for some Pillage. Better against Whir/Urza/Thopter decks and the Stoneforge Mystic decks.
The Seasoned Pyromancer upgrade over Bedlam Reveler, will improve your deck a lot I guess. Without looting, Reveler is too hard to cast indeed.
Chandra, Acolyte of Flame seems like a cool addition. It speeds up the Nahiri ultimate. And can protect herself with the right cards in the graveyard. Don't know what to cut yet. But if you got any test-results with her: please share them
About the Lingering Souls: play 4. It's one of the better cards in the deck and protects our walkers. Especially when you also run some Chandra's.
But in my current build, Young Pyromancer serves as a defensive block against threats and protecting nahiri. If I'm able to get a least one token out of it, it already paid off. But many times, I fill the board anyways
* You preferibly hit your third land by turn 3 (for Spyro, or the sideboard threats like Blood moon, Kambal, Anger). With 22 lands it's 90.5% / 84.7% chance of that (on the draw/play). This is oke, but not fantastic.
* Sometimes I did drop my 4th land, but missing a W for Nahiri
* Sometimes I'm forced to discard Nahiri with Spyro. That's awkward. But mostly Spyro outperforms in this deck.
Overall: I'm really really happy with it. And it plays out pretty sweet.
I did some Mardu nahiri/emrakul testing last weeks. This is list and I'm pretty happy with it.
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Godless Shrine
4 Marsh Flats
2 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Swamp
Instant / Sorcery (25)
2 Collective Brutality
2 Dreadbore
2 Fatal Push
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lingering Souls
1 Smiting Helix
3 Thoughtseize
4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Seasoned Pyromancer
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Blood Moon
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Surgical Extraction
Thoughts on the first testings:
* The deck feels more controlling, than the old build (looting+reveler build)
* Without looting, our opening hands are a bit more clunky. But when you hit your 3th land, the Spyro- (and Nahiri)-draws are a good looting replacement
* I really like some extra card draw in the early game. Thinking about 1 or 2 Tormenting Voice
* Seasoned Pyromancer is a fantastic turn 3 drop, in front of a turn 4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
* Emrakul feels like the win-condition Mardu never had. It plays out great (and is really fun :))
* 1 Smiting Helix so far didn't disappoint. But it's definitely a flex spot when sideboarding
* Sideboard feels really good. Wouldn't change a single card at this moment
Thanks for your feedback! I thought about it, and you,re right. Spyro > Bedlam reveler in the Nahiri/emrakul build. Less graveyard dependent and bodies on turn 3 in front of a turn 4 Nahiri seems great!
I just bought the playset and will test it soon
Spyro’s included, I have 10 discard outlets now (2x Coll Brut, 4x Spyro, 4x Nahiri). I’ll try some Smiting Helix too I think. Max 2 pieces.
About the SFM build: I like that one. But it will eat an early removal spell for sure. A playset seems legitimate therefore.
I don’t know yet, if Stoneforge Mystic fits the Mardu-style. But very interested in the first game results!!
Therefore, I came up with a build which only requires a small investment and is still competitive.
I went for the Nahiri / Emrakul combination. The +2 from nahiri could give this deck the consistency in the late game. And Emrakul is the finisher Mardu never had ;-)
Therefore I went up 2 lands. And threw Blood moon in the sideboard.
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Godless Shrine
4 Marsh Flats
2 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Swamp
Creatures
4 Bedlam Reveler
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Collective Brutality
2 Dreadbore
3 Fatal Push
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lingering Souls
4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Thoughtseize
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Blood Moon
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Extirpate
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
4 Leyline of the Void
I know Bedlam Reveler is a nonbo with Emrakul. But if I'm upticking Nahiri to discard Emrakul (to ult her next turn), it wouldn't have matter anyways.
But if Bedlam feels wrong, I can replace them with Seasoned Pyromancer (or even a Dreadhorde Arcanist).
I really regret the Looting bann, but wanted to share my thoughts. May it help mardu rebuild