MTG Salvation

Well, I just thought I'd chip in and give my two cents. I've read this thread extensively back for Columbus last year, and again when testing for Detroit this past month.

This is my list, and no, I do not remember how to format this properly.



I will admit that the mana base is a little wonky, and that stems from lack of testing it (I focused more on the maindeck, though I haven't really had any trouble casting things other than kiki) and a lack of a second rugged prairie, which I may correct before the event. I replaced it with a forest as a hedge vs blood moon, and as a way to take less damage for my t1 green vs many decks, but I'm not sold on it.

As for my maindeck, I opted for Domri's over Chords because, after playing with Chords for about a year, I found them getting worse and worse. First of all, Wall of Roots does nothing in this deck. I have actually cut it out completely, and I have no regrets. With creatures getting larger and larger, it basically blocks nothing. It also doesn't attack, and at that point, what is it doing. Chord wins the game out of nowhere sometimes, but even when I played the 4 Wall version last year, I still found Chord to be clunky and awkward, not to mention a nightmare to draw in multiples. Now that the walls have been cut to make room for a midrange game plan, it's even harder to get the 8 mana/creatures to Chord in a Kiki. Also, it was pointed out that Shadow of Doubt is a card. Getting a Pod activation Shadowed is bad, but getting a Chord Shadowed is worse by far. Domri is a way to grind out games vs UWr and Jund, while also providing incidental removal among many different matches. Unlike chord, it's not a one of, and with 31 creatures and 7 fetches, I find myself hitting with it about 60% of the time. Over the course of two turns, it about replaces itself, and in three turns, it's gained a considerable advantage vs Jund or UWr. If they have to bolt it, even better.

As for the whole Archmage/Redcap debate, I could never see myself not playing both. Redcap is so useful for killing so many utility creatures, Birds, Hierarch, Steel Overseer, Dark Confidant, just to name a few. It's a great value creature, and provides removal for these little, but game breaking guys that our deck doesn't otherwise have. Archmage is a whole different story, it's basically our only defense maindeck against the spell based combo decks that trouble pod so much, and even with negates in from board, it's still a huge boon to have vs tron and scapeshift. I don't view either of them as a 4cc persister so much as utility creatures that just happen to win the game on the spot with a pod.

Smiter is a card I haven't tested much with, I found it very recently on a list from MTGO, but I like it a lot. Like finks, it takes either a path or two removal spells to kill, but it has the benefit of hitting a lot harder in combat. Uncounterable is just the icing on the cake. The other ability is rarely relevant, but when it goes off, it's just nuts. The downside is the lack of lifegain in games like burn or affinity where the body is rarely relevant, and it's lack of utility with pod, but it's not like I'm taking out all my finks, and I still prefer it in the fair match ups.

As for my board. I tried the tech from Ari Lax's list of the Trinket Mage/Chalice of the Void combo, but I was consistently unimpressed. Even when I tested double chalice, I was still getting them mostly too late. Sure, sometimes I'd have it on turn 2 vs auras, and it would be a blowout, but sometimes I'd get it turn 4 and it would be useless. I switched to explosives because I feel it's a great card in many matchups. Auras is too fast for you to really be proactive about them consistently, so I feel that the EE is a great way to interact with their hexproof guys. I opted for the Trinket Mage over the double EE because, with EE being reactive, it's less important that I naturally draw it early, and it's great to be able to tutor for it when I need it. I also like EE vs folk, affinity, tokens, zoo and hatebears. Sure, most of those were already good matchups, but it just feels so much more reliable than chalice. They're also decent in the pod mirrors, and are a way to fog for a turn vs twin, but I don't really see myself bringing them in vs twin when I run 4 paths. Yes, I guess they're worse vs living end, but still, I feel like either I play 3 Chalices, or they'd just be too slow too often. I also play 2 maindeck Oozes, which makes my matchup better vs them. I'm willing to give up a little bit of a % vs storm, because they aren't really a real deck. Seriously, 3 rounds of targeted banning vs them, why don't they just give it up already. I'm still not 100% on the Mage/EE, it may be better off as just more spells, but I wouldn't consider replacing them with Chalices, just too hit and miss.

I play the 2 maindeck Oozes because it seems like they get better in multiples against the decks they are good against.

Anyway, that's just my two cents. Mostly I was just trying to kill some time before my car leaves for Detroit, but I'd appreciate any input I could get, provided it's before about 9:00am tomorrow.

It's been a while since I've posted here. I just got some new paints, so I figured I'd break them in. As it turns out, Golden Acrylics make a huge difference vs the dollar store crap.

Sorry for the image quality, my scanner is on the fritz at the moment, so I had to use my phone camera.




IMG Source is Google for No Face
No Face is the work of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki, and is from the movie Spirited Away.

Spark Mage has been impressing me less and less, but I'd never take out redcap. I tried it once, and it just went horribly. I kept on wanting it. I might try trading the sparkmage for a Fulminator from the board, or maybe just removing it entirely. I did myself siding it out often.

I was considering hunt master, but he's best against fair creature decks, which are not this decks problem. I was also considering fauna shaman, but I don't like the summoning sickness and the fact that it doesn't put the creature into play. That being said, it's a lot easier to resolve than pod, and more tutor effects wouldn't be bad.

As for lands however, I'd never cut below 22. I'm having enough problems with 23 as it is.

Correct. Perhaps I'm going too far into the gy/anti storm hate though. Maybe they'd be better off as a metamorph and something else more versatile, like a grudge.

On a side note, the my Thalia's have been consistently useful. I recommend at least 1.

Speaking of perfecting the deck. I take back what I said about witness. In the latest daily I did, it won me several games where no other card in my deck would do.

Moving on to sideboard. Mine currently looks like this:



I was thinking that the relic and the ? Become surgical extractions. They seem to solve some problems I'm having, but I don't know if they're too narrow/useless. Keep in mind that I run 2 Thalias main. Thoughts?

I find it's alright, but I don't bring both in in the play. On the draw, it helps me catch up to your t1 mana guy if I can't match it, and I find a lot of the naya hands rely pretty heavily on birds or hierarch. I also fin you can usually find a use for it somewhere later in the game, such as killing pridemages or sparkmages. That being said, it doesn't hit much, which is why I think I'd like bonfire more.

Nice, that's pretty sweet.

I can't really think of anything at the moment to replace witness with, I was just trying to get other people's input because she's never been amazing for me.

Also, forked bolt or bonfire? Forked bolt seems to have more relevant matches, but bonfire is better in the matchups that it's good in, if that makes any sense. That and I like bonfire against jund, while I do not like forked bolt there at all.

I personally like township. Works well with persisted, and it has won me a fair number of games, including the quad BoP beatdown. I was flooded out an in 6 turns I'd draw 4 birds and 2 lands. Fortunately one of them was township, so it didn't matter that I never got another spell, because township carried me to the win. It gets out of hand surprisingly fast, but I agree that the mana is tight as it is, so I could certainly see the argument for cutting it.

Has anyone tried playing without eternal witness. I just find myself siding it out in nearly every matchup. It rarely gets me any decent value and the only games it's won for me directly or otherwise were by using it as a 3cc 2/1 beater, or as 3cc pod fodder. I think I'd rather use the slot for something more useful, but I'm reluctant to cut it because it is very useful in theory. What are your experiences with it? Has it ever been stellarly good? It's fine or course, but fine doesn't really cut it at a gp.

Also, I agree that sower is nuts, I just can't fit it in. I'm not cutting white because most of my board cards are white, and Angels are nuts, but I wish I could squeeze a sower in, but the mana won't support it, and I can't cut red or green obviously.

With more than 2, I always get kiki-flooded, which is fatal more often than not. If you draw one, you can just hold it till you can resolve it without issue, but if you draw two, they can be stranded in hand, but you still aren't going to resolve one unless the coast is clear anyway. This was a problem that I noticed when watching Jarvis Yu's video, he would draw 2 kiki's and they would sit there doing nothing while he got beaten to death. I didn't really like his list on the whole, but that is neither here nor there.

I couldn't imagine running less than 4 chords, with wall of roots adding two mana, I'm almost happier to see chord that I am to see pod. I win far more games off it than I do with pod. The ambush factor along with it's versatility has proven very useful to me, and I almost never have trouble getting the 8 mana for kiki between convoke and mana dorks.

I'll consider a MD linvala, because I am noticing Pod steadily increasing in popularity, but I used to run it, and it was very bad for me in many matchups. A 3 power flier for four isn't what it used to be, I found it was dead against many of my tough matchups, such as storm and tron. It wasn't aggressive enough to do any real damage, and I was finding I was having more trouble casting it that I was casting Kiki-Jiki, though I didn't use Koopa's mana base involving rugged prairie.

@purklefluff
I don't really like massacre wurm, because you don't really want to be podding away your fives and it's a huge strain on your mana base. Exarch itself was a stretch, but it's only 1 blue, and you have a ton of mana dorks and fetches to fix your mana base. Massacre wurm is only hardcastable if you draw it by using 3 BoP, which has happened to me, but I wouldn't rely on it. It's not good enough against the major decks to warrant inclusion, it's not like an elesh norn, where the -2/-2 sticks around. Also, I don't like natures claim because you're playing a pod deck with access to creatures like qasali pridemage and harmonic sliver, which are much better in context. I'm assuming Pilgrim over Hierarch is more a question of budget, so I'll leave that. Just my two cents.

Same with me. I cut it down to 2 Kiki's a while ago, and I was happy with that choice. I went up back up to three after a little prodding, but the deck performed noticeably worse, so I went back to 2.

On another note, I'd have to agree that Conscripts is a must include. It gives you so many options and it doesn't die to combust. Plus it allows you to combo through an Elesh Norn (by stealing it first obviously), which had been a big problem card for me when it was cheated into play with gifts shenanigans.

Also, for those of you going to Columbus, what kind of a meta are you expecting? I've only played on modo, where storm and burn are disproportionately represented because they are cheap. Also, I've yet to face a twin deck once, despite doing 5 dailies, 3 8-mans and countless 2-man queues. I got combo-ed by twin once, and that was out of storm's sideboard. Is it really played that seldom, or is that just a fluke/quirk of the modo metagame.

I'll admit that exarch does lead to some awkward mana situations. However, podding into it, or chording into it is amazing. Having the ability to pod up a wall of roots, untap the pod to pod again leads to some wins out of nowhere. After playing with it, I'm very happy to have it as my only blue splash. I have more or less 11 blue sources and 8 ways to cheat it into play, so the times that it's a dead card are rare. In matchups where consistency can be crucial, I do side it out, but I've even won games by just using it to tap something while I beatdown.

Alright, I've been on this forum for long enough that I think it's about time that I posted a list. I've 4-0ed both the dailies I've done with this version of the deck, and I've been doing pretty well in the 2-man queues with it, so I think it's pretty solid, and it's what I'll be taking to the GP more or less. The only changes I'll be making is that I'll be using bonfires instead of forked bolts and fulminator mages instead of sowing salts, and probably with the fourth fire-lit thicket in the main to support the mages. This is because I own these cards in paper, but they are really pricey on modo. I'd appreciate any feedback or questions about it.

Also, I've never done the deck tags before, so I hope I get it right.

Exarch and conscripts win you so many games out of nowhere. I was at 1 against a dominating uw player with no cards in hand and only a bunch of mana dorks and a finks, and bunch of lands. He tapped out, I topdecked a pod, and went exarch into angel into Kiki for the game.

With that plan, how do you find the matchup goes? I bring in more hate than that, an I still usually have trouble post board. Unless I have a chord of calling. The trick is to chord up a canonist mid combo. It's like a silence, and it completely stops them after they've blown most of their resources.