Ran this list last night for modern monday at my lgs. Went 4-0 beating Abzan, Izzet Wizards, Humans, and Burn
The deck felt pretty good, with the Buglers putting in a lot of work. I feel like this version of the deck is a little better than traditional big zoo in the more controlling or more aggressive matchups, but suffers against the big mana decks because it is not as fast and decks that run walking ballista like tron and hardened scales affinity can roll over most of you creatures because of low toughness. Combo feels about the same, but the main deck Thalias do help. The interaction between Aurelia and Knight of the reliquary is quite good because it allows you to give the knight vigilance and swing then tap it to get your kessig wolf run and trample over as well. Knight of autumn was great as well, it really helped in the burn and izzet wizards match, while still feeling great against humans. Still probably needs a lot of work, and I am not sure about the Figures, they felt pretty meh most of the time.
At beginning of your combat choose up to one creature you control. It gains +2/+0, Trample if it's red and Vigilance if it's white
Both of these cards could end up being good in the future for zoo decks! I am especially excited for the Knight of Autumn, could even benefit if history of benalia is a way forward since it is a knight as well!
And again dromoka's fight ability makes thalia's first strike shine
Why would first strike make the fight ability better? First strike only affects combat damage. I would consider Qasali pridemage over rec sage because you can play it out earlier and it has exalted like noble to allow you to get in more damage. It can be better to hit off coco if there isn't an artifact that you want to hit right away, if you want to wait for the bridge to come for instance.
I have a number of Titanshift players at my store so I am going with Alpine Moon over damping sphere in the side. The Chandra in the side is because there are a few Ponza and Skred players with Stormbreath Dragon, and a few players with Ensnaring bridge. Thundermaw is for lingering souls decks like abzan and esper that are in my meta, and another card that can compete with Stormbreath in the air.
I finally decided it was time to replace my Courser of Kruphix in the main with the smiters after going against Jeskai control and Titanshift and just not being able to put on a reasonable clock. They will also help in the Abzan, Jund, Hollow one, and Mardu decks that seem to be multiplying like crazy in my area. Courser had always been my pet card and I had really tried to justify it with the card advantage, extra type for goyf, and extra life against burn, but right now that is just not what I am playing against and not what I need. I need another beater to speed up my clock and smiter is the best and is played by most for a reason.
I'll try and post my results next week.
Played this list the last few modern nights at my LGS. I have had great success going 4-0 and 3-1. The deck seems really smooth, but I have a few questions about boarding when facing particular cards. I played against Skred and Pyro Prison and I was really debating taking out my knights because I had seen both Blood Moon and Relic of Progenitus. But knight is so core to the plan of the deck that I was really having second thoughts. Are these matchups that we have to give up basically? I brought in as much artifact hate as I could against prison and got there on them stumbling with mana issues, but against skred they just played stormbreath dragon and beat me down while I struggled to recover from an anger of the gods, sitting there with a path and abrade in hand felt pretty bad.
Right now I have courser in the deck to synergize with Domri and bloodbraid and to add an extra type for my goyfs. This slot I have really gone back and forth with between Tireless Tracker, Loxodon Smiter as well. I see basically no one else play this card in the slot and I am wondering why not? I know that it is not an aggressive creature, but I have found I love the card because it is bolt proof when it comes down, and that it gets me to my creatures and adds extra lands to pump my knights. Am I taking crazy pills here or is the card actually good in this deck?
Now that spirits is going to be a faster deck with Supreme phantom, is it maybe time to revisit going jeskai? Eidolon of the great revel is a very strong card and bringing that with bolt in for path, at least in the mainboard, could mean that we end up being a whole turn faster. What do you guys think, is spirits going to be fast enough now to benefit from this? Eidolon before was always risky because we took too much damage off of it ourselves, and we couldn't close the game fast enough.
2 Arid Mesa
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Forest
1 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Mountain
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Figure of Destiny
2 Knight of Autumn
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Militia Bugler
Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
1 Dromoka's Command
2 Lightning Helix
2 Rest in Peace
2 Knight of Autumn
1 Dromoka's Command
2 Gaddock Teeg
3 Alpine Moon
1 Settle the Wreckage
2 Stony Silence
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Lyra Dawnbringer
Ran this list last night for modern monday at my lgs. Went 4-0 beating Abzan, Izzet Wizards, Humans, and Burn
The deck felt pretty good, with the Buglers putting in a lot of work. I feel like this version of the deck is a little better than traditional big zoo in the more controlling or more aggressive matchups, but suffers against the big mana decks because it is not as fast and decks that run walking ballista like tron and hardened scales affinity can roll over most of you creatures because of low toughness. Combo feels about the same, but the main deck Thalias do help. The interaction between Aurelia and Knight of the reliquary is quite good because it allows you to give the knight vigilance and swing then tap it to get your kessig wolf run and trample over as well. Knight of autumn was great as well, it really helped in the burn and izzet wizards match, while still feeling great against humans. Still probably needs a lot of work, and I am not sure about the Figures, they felt pretty meh most of the time.
Flying
Mentor
At beginning of your combat choose up to one creature you control. It gains +2/+0, Trample if it's red and Vigilance if it's white
Both of these cards could end up being good in the future for zoo decks! I am especially excited for the Knight of Autumn, could even benefit if history of benalia is a way forward since it is a knight as well!
Why would first strike make the fight ability better? First strike only affects combat damage. I would consider Qasali pridemage over rec sage because you can play it out earlier and it has exalted like noble to allow you to get in more damage. It can be better to hit off coco if there isn't an artifact that you want to hit right away, if you want to wait for the bridge to come for instance.
2 Arid Mesa
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Forest
1 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Mountain
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Wild Nacatl
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Voice of Resurgence
2 Loxodon Smiter
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Bloodbraid Elf
Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
1 Dromoka's Command
2 Lightning Helix
2 Remorseful Cleric
1 Destructive Revelry
1 Abrade
1 Dromoka's Command
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Alpine Moon
1 Settle the Wreckage
2 Stony Silence
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
I have a number of Titanshift players at my store so I am going with Alpine Moon over damping sphere in the side. The Chandra in the side is because there are a few Ponza and Skred players with Stormbreath Dragon, and a few players with Ensnaring bridge. Thundermaw is for lingering souls decks like abzan and esper that are in my meta, and another card that can compete with Stormbreath in the air.
I finally decided it was time to replace my Courser of Kruphix in the main with the smiters after going against Jeskai control and Titanshift and just not being able to put on a reasonable clock. They will also help in the Abzan, Jund, Hollow one, and Mardu decks that seem to be multiplying like crazy in my area. Courser had always been my pet card and I had really tried to justify it with the card advantage, extra type for goyf, and extra life against burn, but right now that is just not what I am playing against and not what I need. I need another beater to speed up my clock and smiter is the best and is played by most for a reason.
I'll try and post my results next week.
2 Arid Mesa
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Forest
1 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Treetop Village
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Wild Nacatl
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Voice of Resurgence
2 Courser of Kruphix
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Bloodbraid Elf
Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
1 Dromoka's Command
2 Lightning Helix
1 Domri Rade
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Abrade
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Dromoka's Command
1 Fiery Justice
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Damping Sphere
1 Settle the Wreckage
1 Stony Silence
1 Fracturing Gust
Played this list the last few modern nights at my LGS. I have had great success going 4-0 and 3-1. The deck seems really smooth, but I have a few questions about boarding when facing particular cards. I played against Skred and Pyro Prison and I was really debating taking out my knights because I had seen both Blood Moon and Relic of Progenitus. But knight is so core to the plan of the deck that I was really having second thoughts. Are these matchups that we have to give up basically? I brought in as much artifact hate as I could against prison and got there on them stumbling with mana issues, but against skred they just played stormbreath dragon and beat me down while I struggled to recover from an anger of the gods, sitting there with a path and abrade in hand felt pretty bad.
Right now I have courser in the deck to synergize with Domri and bloodbraid and to add an extra type for my goyfs. This slot I have really gone back and forth with between Tireless Tracker, Loxodon Smiter as well. I see basically no one else play this card in the slot and I am wondering why not? I know that it is not an aggressive creature, but I have found I love the card because it is bolt proof when it comes down, and that it gets me to my creatures and adds extra lands to pump my knights. Am I taking crazy pills here or is the card actually good in this deck?