This is me. I punted g3 of the semis by not noticing my elves opponent had a westvale abbey. I cast damnation with kalitas in play and it did not end well for me. The deck is solid. 6 colorless land is too many and I've cut the ghost quarter. I don't love snapcaster in the deck but will continue to test it. I'm not a fan of MD discard but collective brutality has been awesome. I played a similar list at regionals and went 0-2 drop vs 2 burn opponents. I had been 8-1 in matches vs burn previously, so I don't think the matchup needs any help. Ancestral Vision MD is controversial I guess but the upside is so good that I'll continue to run it.
FaeKeeler- it was good to meet you at the Atl Regionals.
I'm much more of a fan of Mistbind than of snapcaster. I cut one snapcaster for a dismember at regionals. But it probably shouldve been a go for the throat or anything else.
Awesome. Appreciate the feedback. List feels better than the discard versions did for me. I played a sword of feast and famine over a graffdiggers cage. Are swords something you've tested? I boarded it in more than I thought I would and was never unhappy to draw it. Also curious why you dislike Snapcaster. Being able to chain Cryptic commands is insane.
I haven't tried swords. I haven't really felt like they're needed but let me know what you think.
I dislike snapcaster because it seems rare that I have spells to flashback. It doesn't work great with ancestral visions. Snap-leak/push are real plays that have come up but nothing I'm excited about. And the 2/1 body doesn't feel relevant often enough. Snap cryptic is a 6 mana play. When I get to 6+ mana, I want to be firing up tarpits and mutavaults. The card definitely has a place and I could see between 0-4 being correct. I could also believe that it's correct to drop the faerie tribal theme and just play a snapcaster focused build. But I think the red decks get away with 4 snaps because you can close games with snap bolt to the head.
This is me. I punted g3 of the semis by not noticing my elves opponent had a westvale abbey. I cast damnation with kalitas in play and it did not end well for me. The deck is solid. 6 colorless land is too many and I've cut the ghost quarter. I don't love snapcaster in the deck but will continue to test it. I'm not a fan of MD discard but collective brutality has been awesome. I played a similar list at regionals and went 0-2 drop vs 2 burn opponents. I had been 8-1 in matches vs burn previously, so I don't think the matchup needs any help. Ancestral Vision MD is controversial I guess but the upside is so good that I'll continue to run it.
FaeKeeler- it was good to meet you at the Atl Regionals.
I'm much more of a fan of Mistbind than of snapcaster. I cut one snapcaster for a dismember at regionals. But it probably shouldve been a go for the throat or anything else.
This is me. I punted g3 of the semis by not noticing my elves opponent had a westvale abbey. I cast damnation with kalitas in play and it did not end well for me. The deck is solid. 6 colorless land is too many and I've cut the ghost quarter. I don't love snapcaster in the deck but will continue to test it. I'm not a fan of MD discard but collective brutality has been awesome. I played a similar list at regionals and went 0-2 drop vs 2 burn opponents. I had been 8-1 in matches vs burn previously, so I don't think the matchup needs any help. Ancestral Vision MD is controversial I guess but the upside is so good that I'll continue to run it.
FaeKeeler- it was good to meet you at the Atl Regionals.
I played the below list a few rounds. Played against Shamans, genesis wave, and Kiki pod-so not exactly the best sample size. I was blown out in the kikipod matchup, but the other two matchups became very grindy (lead the stampede out of shamans and e witness chains out of gwave helped them keep up). Pack rat and mutavault both pulled their weight in these games. I was impressed with mutavault's ability to supplement treetop village. At 25 lands, I certainly flooded a decent bit, but it allowed me to aggressively trade manlands, tick down Lilliana, and the game was on as soon as I pulled a rat off the top. I think 25 lands are here to stay for me even if I end up skipping out on the rats. Also, I felt the manabase is really fragile and squeezed, and I regrettably need to cut a colorless land for another colored source.
The sideboard needs work. The nature's claim is probably unnecessary. I was considering the skinrenders in the above list. They have a lot of value vs pod and the mirror. Maybe we want something like shriekmaw for it's flexibility and value. I also want to squeeze batterskull into the list somewhere for post board games.
Excellent points on Verdict and Pulse. Also, Jund can have MD anger now which is worrisome.
I haven't played this deck much. I was just worried pod and affinity- two of the most popular decks- both look bad on paper.
I'm going to try Rat tonight and will report back.
The other question I had is how important is Creeping Corrosion. All the online lists have it as a 3 of. I understand that it colds affinity, but won't they be expecting it? Won't they play around it a little and/or board in thoughtseize. Even still, they can kill on T4-5. If we miss a land drop or don't have double green, it can be an issue. I was thinking about trying more disfigure, golgari charm or nature's claim. Cheap flexible answers may be better or at least not worse and may give us more cards in other matchups. I don't really want to be playing the Back to Nature that I see in other lists anyways so a natures claim, deglamer, or seal of primordium could be relevant there as well. Anyone out there NOT run creeping corrosion?
Flooding at 25 lands is certainly an issue but hopefully mitigated by 9 value lands and 2 courser. I tend to not think of tec edge as much of a land. Maybe the answer is go up in courser count. Plus, resolved rats or Lillianas have a way of making flooding not so bad. The MD thruns have been a house in testing UWR, and I expect it to be decently popular. I wonder how much of a downgrade rat is in this matchup. Play it at 5 mana to play round leak and then make a new one in response to removal. The mutavaults vs lost tec edge is prob a wash. I know we can pick up percentage points against Pod by playing the rat and against affinity by playing mutavault (blocks etched champion).
Comparison of the two top8 mythic decks from Roanoke. I believe the proactive protection plan of Mckeown list is better than the mana leak plan. I doubt I will play the thoughtseizes though since fetching a bosk citp to use it thoughtseize on 2 is not as appealing to me. The second list looks unfocused although I see the merit of maindeck linvala. Rafiq is an interesting throwback choice.
Two interesting/similar naya lists top8'd the day b4 as well with one winning.
I've been having a bit of difficulty with the Jund matchup, especially post board. They simply run a ton of removal that is all good against us, and fallout can be disastrous post board. As a result, I've devised a boarding plan that basically denies them most of the value of their fallout, while blunting their attack considerably. My goal is to take back from them the role of being the control deck post-board, and win a longer game. Here's the list, and the plan:
The sideboarding plan is:
-4 Lotus Cobra, -2 Vengevine, -1 Fauna Shaman
+2 Flashfreeze, +1 Wurmcoil Engine, +4 Wall of Denial
Wall of Denial is a stone-cold killer against Jund: they can't remove it all, and it always takes care of their biggest threat. It becomes hard for them to push damage through with one on the board, and almost impossible with 2 out. Even if you don't run this controlly version of the deck, I still think you should consider WoD for some sideboard slots.
It seems counterintuitive to drop Cobra after board... he is a large part of the deck's speed. However, he causes you to play right in to their strategy. You really want Cobra on turn 2, and that is just inviting a Bolt from them, or a Fallout to catch your Cobra and your Hierarch. By removing most of your Falloutable creaures, you blunt their sideboard plan. The 2 Shamans remain since in the mid-game they can be protected and they help you find the Sovereigns or Wurmcoil Engine that can win you the game. Knight stays, since if he untaps he can protect himself, and he quickly gets hard for them to handle. However, it is often better to drop him once you have 2 fetches in the yard, if possible.
I have only tested a couple of games so far with this board plan, but it shows great promise - the Wall of Denials did exactly what I wanted them to, buying me plenty of time to win the long game. I'm not sure whether pulling the Vengevines is correct or not... they aren't particularly good against Jund, but they do get you a lot of value if you can rebuy them even once. Also, Jace is pretty lackluster in this matchup... he often ends up dying to BBE or Blightning. Further testing is needed on that count.
Thoughts?
I haven't found Jund to be that difficult but understand that vengevine is traditionally mediocre vs jund and I have baneslayer in that slot, a card that just crushes jund preboard. Post board I bring in dauntless escorts and linvalas (if fauna shaman version). Escort is there just to protect the queen in concert with reliquary. I bring out some number of jace and cobra. I like jace ok in the matchup too as stated earlier. I was bringing in spell pierce for a while but it wasn't too exciting for me despite being great in theory vs pulse/blightning.
Siding out lotus cobra has been very effective for me in many matchups where fallout is coming in. I also feel ok doing this though because i have the 2 explores as redundancy. Fallout honestly hasn't been a problem for me at all. It should at most be a two for 1.
Likewise, do not be afraid to side out the conscription package. Often vs fae, cutting all your high casting cards for beaters is correct. Of course If I then go onto the play g3 ill bring it back in sometimes. I like to bring in part of the package as well vs 4cc on the play g3 although this hasn't been tested more than a few matches.
All I can say is prove me wrong. Go win a PTQ with this unbelievable tech you have. Cedrics list is probably as good as it is gonna get for Mythic and I would not stray too far from it.
both Naya and Jund are better Fauna Shaman decks than Mythic. I am certain of that. What cards are you cutting for these 8? The regular list only has a couple of extra slots aside from the core.
Agreed to a large extent. Any thoughts on fauna shaman slotted in without vengevine? Vengevine doesnt excite me as much since rebuying him is difficult unless you have an active jace. I may not have much time to test before the GP but i think I will cut explore for fauna shaman in my list above.
First: I played a bunch with mana leak and didnt like it. Often you will be tapping out early and then after that they will be able to pay the 3 or out counter war you anyways. Hilariously, most players expect it and play around it which works to your advantage. The only nice thing is tricking them with reliquary or a fetch and lotus cobra but that doesn't happen often enough. I will be playtesting with it more again if the field is 4cc/fae/wargate heavy, but if naya/RDW/jund continue to rise in popularity, path is great. Even vs 4cc pathing wurmcoil or a tarpit threatening jace (this is big) has been good. Vs Fae Path is great stopping Mistbind, their best threat and allowing you to still combo out. Lastly, Ill often play my accelarant t2 if i have no t2 play so that if they try to kill it, i can path it and get a land. Not great but works pretty well, especially considering you jump to 4 mana and they havent had a relevant play. This works well on the play to set up a jace without worrying about manaleak. Also allows you to lead on celestial colonade.
Maindeck Baneslayer. Many versions are running a 3 drop here like dauntless or stag. Personally both are just vanilla 3/3s much of the time. Vs fae obviously having stag g1 is huge but its so bad everywhere else, even vs jund. vs 4cc you don't really need dauntless g1 since they only have 1 wrath usually and despite being okay vs jund, escort doesn't fight with an advantage vs any of jund's creatures. Baneslayer on the other hand has won sooo many games. VS aggro decks I have won games with a t3 or 4 baneslayer followed by t5 swinging w/ baneslayer and a colonade, t6 the same while chumping with mana dorks. It allows you to race any situation. If jund doesnt have pulse, baneslayer is gg and pulse is already streteched thin. Baneslayer is a very relevant topdeck in most games. I won a 4cc match yesterday after getting identity crises (not sure why he boarded it in) by topdecking baneslayer followed by a sided dauntless with an empty board vs his 5 card hand. Lucky but other than sovereigns, I had no other cards that could do that. I've raced combo elves that sided into aggro after having no outs to linvala. Baneslayer is the real deal especially if naya and rdw continue to post results. I can see the merit fo another 3 drop for aggression but none appeal to me like baneslayer except maybe warmonk or finks since they blank most removal and win vs finks and vendilllion clique. Id try vendillion but I don't want to stretch the mana base and make myself even more vulnerable to fallout.
4 manlands. Any less is criminal. Colonade is the best one.
9 fetches. So far I've liked the evolving wilds since most of the time I get it with a reliquary EOT into plains so CITP doesn't matter and the lifeloss isnt there. It can fetch blue which is nice since jace is often the hardest to cast.
6 plainswalkers: Any less is a crime. So much/ so that i want to try gideon again. These guys are so good vs control and are never bad despite being sided out a lot. I side them out a decent bit but even vs teh aggro decks being able to pay 4 mana, gain 5+life and scry is not fine and occasionally 4 mana brainstorm shuffle away two lands is like a harmonize. I won the gp t on 3 jace but went to 4 because I always want it and I can always shuffle away extras (but often don't just because the game becomes a war over jace). This deck can cast jace faster, protect it better, and shuffle more dead cards than any other deck making it awesome.
2 explore: meh prob first to cut but I side out 2-4 lotus cobra so often when i see sweepers and disfigures coming that I think having a non vulnerable accelerator that isnt dead late is good.
For the record my sideboard is:
4stag
4 pridemage
3 linvala
1 path (or journey)
3 escorts.
Ive tried summoning trap but manaleak gets sided out and you miss and its more six drops. I tried 2 main like terry soh but wasnt too excited by them. I have used burrenton forge tender and its good only if you expect rdw. otherwise it sucks. Just don't over extend. I side out lotus cobras on the draw vs fallout decks. I side out the conscription packaage on the draw for aggro creatures vs fae/4cc and bring it back in a lot on the play. It's nice to have them confused or holding up mana leak for it. Then it looks like you are trying to bait them. You get to 6 mana fast and play a reliquary or play a t3 stag. Pridemage is great vs fae not really for hitting bitterblossom so much as just beating down and clearing the walls out for your stag (after exalted trigger of course). I bring in path as well. My fae board is pretty fluent but a LOT of cards come in.
Linvala is an allstar. She comes in vs jund b/c she can block everything but demigod, doesnt die to bolt (ie another threat like baneslayer) and shuts down leech and fauna shaman. Great vs naya. Wins vs elves. Surprisingly good vs outside decks like merfokl and elementals.
I havent tried cloudthresher in the board but kind of want to.
Wargate I havent tested but I do have some concern about not having mana leaks. teeg is a good answer if it becomes big.
Pros of the deck:
You are always live off the top. Soo many good topdecks are bad but so many just win the game.
You can race other combo decks (I won vs polymorph on t3 vs his t3 emrakul)
Best Jace deck imo.
Best KotR deck which if we remember was a card that has dominated formats in the past.
Fear, you disrupt the opponents game plan just by threatening a t3-> conscription swing.
Cons:
Mulligans a decent amount since hands without accelerants or all accelerants are bad.
Gameplan also hinges on 1 or 2 key cards since if control stops your jace or you lose your sole accelerant or sole bomb to a thoughtseize or bolt you sometimes crumble.
Enchantment hate is at a high.
All this leads me to the vengevine fauna shaman plan. It sounds great to me as a plan c to grind out games. I don't see how it could do anything but make the deck more consistent IF you make the right cuts. The problem is what to cut?
By adding more grizzly bears and more hasters, I would think your fae match up goes up pretty dramatically and if you don't see infest post board, your configuration of a gw aggro deck can just take it home maybe. Of course this needs testing but G1 vs fae I win sometimes just by getting 9-12 damage in with an exalted lotus cobra and then land any other threat before they can finish you off. Baneslayer is actually oki vs fae since lifegain is decent...remember they are almost always hitting you for near exact. Of couse its high casting cost and being tapped by cryptic sucks.
As to trying to fit cryptic into the deck, I think its a powerful card but just don't see it fitting here.
If you play vengevine, I could see ranger of eos being a powerful sideboard card for a ton of late game power.
As to Stag, I'm never that impressed since he is no longer an autowin vs fae and bad everywhere else. I am looking at other options like chameleon colossus, thresher, or finks.
what matchups is Akroma really for and what do u board out?
Also, any elves tech?
-JP
lastly, any recommendations of what to side vs the darkdepths/thopter combo? Bloodmoon+grudge +2 extirpate? -4 punishing fire, -4 scapeshift, -2 lightning bolt?
I haven't tried swords. I haven't really felt like they're needed but let me know what you think.
I dislike snapcaster because it seems rare that I have spells to flashback. It doesn't work great with ancestral visions. Snap-leak/push are real plays that have come up but nothing I'm excited about. And the 2/1 body doesn't feel relevant often enough. Snap cryptic is a 6 mana play. When I get to 6+ mana, I want to be firing up tarpits and mutavaults. The card definitely has a place and I could see between 0-4 being correct. I could also believe that it's correct to drop the faerie tribal theme and just play a snapcaster focused build. But I think the red decks get away with 4 snaps because you can close games with snap bolt to the head.
I'm much more of a fan of Mistbind than of snapcaster. I cut one snapcaster for a dismember at regionals. But it probably shouldve been a go for the throat or anything else.
This is me. I punted g3 of the semis by not noticing my elves opponent had a westvale abbey. I cast damnation with kalitas in play and it did not end well for me. The deck is solid. 6 colorless land is too many and I've cut the ghost quarter. I don't love snapcaster in the deck but will continue to test it. I'm not a fan of MD discard but collective brutality has been awesome. I played a similar list at regionals and went 0-2 drop vs 2 burn opponents. I had been 8-1 in matches vs burn previously, so I don't think the matchup needs any help. Ancestral Vision MD is controversial I guess but the upside is so good that I'll continue to run it.
FaeKeeler- it was good to meet you at the Atl Regionals.
The sideboard needs work. The nature's claim is probably unnecessary. I was considering the skinrenders in the above list. They have a lot of value vs pod and the mirror. Maybe we want something like shriekmaw for it's flexibility and value. I also want to squeeze batterskull into the list somewhere for post board games.
3 Mutavault
3 Overgrown Tomb
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 swamp
1 forest
2 tectonic edge
2 twilight mire
1 Woodland Cemetery
2 Marsh flats
4 dark confidant
3 scavenging ooze
3 pack rat
2 courser of kruphix
4 inquisition of kozilek
3 thoughtseize
4 abrupt decay
4 Lilliana of the veil
2 dismember
1 maelstrom pulse
1 slaughter pact
4 fulminator mage
2 creeping corrosion
2 golgari charm
1 drown in sorrow
2 disfigure
1 nature's claim
1 thrun, the last troll
1 obstinate baloth
1 grafdigger's cage
I haven't played this deck much. I was just worried pod and affinity- two of the most popular decks- both look bad on paper.
I'm going to try Rat tonight and will report back.
The other question I had is how important is Creeping Corrosion. All the online lists have it as a 3 of. I understand that it colds affinity, but won't they be expecting it? Won't they play around it a little and/or board in thoughtseize. Even still, they can kill on T4-5. If we miss a land drop or don't have double green, it can be an issue. I was thinking about trying more disfigure, golgari charm or nature's claim. Cheap flexible answers may be better or at least not worse and may give us more cards in other matchups. I don't really want to be playing the Back to Nature that I see in other lists anyways so a natures claim, deglamer, or seal of primordium could be relevant there as well. Anyone out there NOT run creeping corrosion?
4 Goyf
3 Ooze
2 Courser
4 Confidant
3 Rat
4 Decay
4 Lilliana
2 Dismember
1 Slaughterpact
1 Pulse
7 Spot discard
25 land- 3 muta 2 tec edge or some variation. May want a second Urborg.
Basically cutting the 2 Thrun, a pulse, and a Courser from the stock list- some of the most midrangey cards- for the rat engine and more man lands.
-IJ
-IJ
Comparison of the two top8 mythic decks from Roanoke. I believe the proactive protection plan of Mckeown list is better than the mana leak plan. I doubt I will play the thoughtseizes though since fetching a bosk citp to use it thoughtseize on 2 is not as appealing to me. The second list looks unfocused although I see the merit of maindeck linvala. Rafiq is an interesting throwback choice.
Two interesting/similar naya lists top8'd the day b4 as well with one winning.
I haven't found Jund to be that difficult but understand that vengevine is traditionally mediocre vs jund and I have baneslayer in that slot, a card that just crushes jund preboard. Post board I bring in dauntless escorts and linvalas (if fauna shaman version). Escort is there just to protect the queen in concert with reliquary. I bring out some number of jace and cobra. I like jace ok in the matchup too as stated earlier. I was bringing in spell pierce for a while but it wasn't too exciting for me despite being great in theory vs pulse/blightning.
Siding out lotus cobra has been very effective for me in many matchups where fallout is coming in. I also feel ok doing this though because i have the 2 explores as redundancy. Fallout honestly hasn't been a problem for me at all. It should at most be a two for 1.
Likewise, do not be afraid to side out the conscription package. Often vs fae, cutting all your high casting cards for beaters is correct. Of course If I then go onto the play g3 ill bring it back in sometimes. I like to bring in part of the package as well vs 4cc on the play g3 although this hasn't been tested more than a few matches.
I'd be interested to hear what others sideboard.
Agreed to a large extent. Any thoughts on fauna shaman slotted in without vengevine? Vengevine doesnt excite me as much since rebuying him is difficult unless you have an active jace. I may not have much time to test before the GP but i think I will cut explore for fauna shaman in my list above.
Ive been playing this deck a bunch and won a decent sized GPtrial w/ it.
For the record my list:
4 heirarch
4 birds
4 cobra
4 reliquary
4jace
2 elspeth
3 baneslayer
2 path
2 explore
4 sovereigns
2conscription
4 colonade
5 forest
3 island
2plains
1steppe
3 razorverge thicket
4 misty rainforest
3 verdant catacombs
1 evolving wilds
First: I played a bunch with mana leak and didnt like it. Often you will be tapping out early and then after that they will be able to pay the 3 or out counter war you anyways. Hilariously, most players expect it and play around it which works to your advantage. The only nice thing is tricking them with reliquary or a fetch and lotus cobra but that doesn't happen often enough. I will be playtesting with it more again if the field is 4cc/fae/wargate heavy, but if naya/RDW/jund continue to rise in popularity, path is great. Even vs 4cc pathing wurmcoil or a tarpit threatening jace (this is big) has been good. Vs Fae Path is great stopping Mistbind, their best threat and allowing you to still combo out. Lastly, Ill often play my accelarant t2 if i have no t2 play so that if they try to kill it, i can path it and get a land. Not great but works pretty well, especially considering you jump to 4 mana and they havent had a relevant play. This works well on the play to set up a jace without worrying about manaleak. Also allows you to lead on celestial colonade.
Maindeck Baneslayer. Many versions are running a 3 drop here like dauntless or stag. Personally both are just vanilla 3/3s much of the time. Vs fae obviously having stag g1 is huge but its so bad everywhere else, even vs jund. vs 4cc you don't really need dauntless g1 since they only have 1 wrath usually and despite being okay vs jund, escort doesn't fight with an advantage vs any of jund's creatures. Baneslayer on the other hand has won sooo many games. VS aggro decks I have won games with a t3 or 4 baneslayer followed by t5 swinging w/ baneslayer and a colonade, t6 the same while chumping with mana dorks. It allows you to race any situation. If jund doesnt have pulse, baneslayer is gg and pulse is already streteched thin. Baneslayer is a very relevant topdeck in most games. I won a 4cc match yesterday after getting identity crises (not sure why he boarded it in) by topdecking baneslayer followed by a sided dauntless with an empty board vs his 5 card hand. Lucky but other than sovereigns, I had no other cards that could do that. I've raced combo elves that sided into aggro after having no outs to linvala. Baneslayer is the real deal especially if naya and rdw continue to post results. I can see the merit fo another 3 drop for aggression but none appeal to me like baneslayer except maybe warmonk or finks since they blank most removal and win vs finks and vendilllion clique. Id try vendillion but I don't want to stretch the mana base and make myself even more vulnerable to fallout.
4 manlands. Any less is criminal. Colonade is the best one.
9 fetches. So far I've liked the evolving wilds since most of the time I get it with a reliquary EOT into plains so CITP doesn't matter and the lifeloss isnt there. It can fetch blue which is nice since jace is often the hardest to cast.
6 plainswalkers: Any less is a crime. So much/ so that i want to try gideon again. These guys are so good vs control and are never bad despite being sided out a lot. I side them out a decent bit but even vs teh aggro decks being able to pay 4 mana, gain 5+life and scry is not fine and occasionally 4 mana brainstorm shuffle away two lands is like a harmonize. I won the gp t on 3 jace but went to 4 because I always want it and I can always shuffle away extras (but often don't just because the game becomes a war over jace). This deck can cast jace faster, protect it better, and shuffle more dead cards than any other deck making it awesome.
2 explore: meh prob first to cut but I side out 2-4 lotus cobra so often when i see sweepers and disfigures coming that I think having a non vulnerable accelerator that isnt dead late is good.
For the record my sideboard is:
4stag
4 pridemage
3 linvala
1 path (or journey)
3 escorts.
Ive tried summoning trap but manaleak gets sided out and you miss and its more six drops. I tried 2 main like terry soh but wasnt too excited by them. I have used burrenton forge tender and its good only if you expect rdw. otherwise it sucks. Just don't over extend. I side out lotus cobras on the draw vs fallout decks. I side out the conscription packaage on the draw for aggro creatures vs fae/4cc and bring it back in a lot on the play. It's nice to have them confused or holding up mana leak for it. Then it looks like you are trying to bait them. You get to 6 mana fast and play a reliquary or play a t3 stag. Pridemage is great vs fae not really for hitting bitterblossom so much as just beating down and clearing the walls out for your stag (after exalted trigger of course). I bring in path as well. My fae board is pretty fluent but a LOT of cards come in.
Linvala is an allstar. She comes in vs jund b/c she can block everything but demigod, doesnt die to bolt (ie another threat like baneslayer) and shuts down leech and fauna shaman. Great vs naya. Wins vs elves. Surprisingly good vs outside decks like merfokl and elementals.
I havent tried cloudthresher in the board but kind of want to.
Wargate I havent tested but I do have some concern about not having mana leaks. teeg is a good answer if it becomes big.
Pros of the deck:
You are always live off the top. Soo many good topdecks are bad but so many just win the game.
You can race other combo decks (I won vs polymorph on t3 vs his t3 emrakul)
Best Jace deck imo.
Best KotR deck which if we remember was a card that has dominated formats in the past.
Fear, you disrupt the opponents game plan just by threatening a t3-> conscription swing.
Cons:
Mulligans a decent amount since hands without accelerants or all accelerants are bad.
Gameplan also hinges on 1 or 2 key cards since if control stops your jace or you lose your sole accelerant or sole bomb to a thoughtseize or bolt you sometimes crumble.
Enchantment hate is at a high.
All this leads me to the vengevine fauna shaman plan. It sounds great to me as a plan c to grind out games. I don't see how it could do anything but make the deck more consistent IF you make the right cuts. The problem is what to cut?
-2 explore, -2 baneslayer, -2 path, -1 sovereigns/last baneslayer.
+3 fauna shaman, +4 vengevine.
By adding more grizzly bears and more hasters, I would think your fae match up goes up pretty dramatically and if you don't see infest post board, your configuration of a gw aggro deck can just take it home maybe. Of course this needs testing but G1 vs fae I win sometimes just by getting 9-12 damage in with an exalted lotus cobra and then land any other threat before they can finish you off. Baneslayer is actually oki vs fae since lifegain is decent...remember they are almost always hitting you for near exact. Of couse its high casting cost and being tapped by cryptic sucks.
As to trying to fit cryptic into the deck, I think its a powerful card but just don't see it fitting here.
If you play vengevine, I could see ranger of eos being a powerful sideboard card for a ton of late game power.
As to Stag, I'm never that impressed since he is no longer an autowin vs fae and bad everywhere else. I am looking at other options like chameleon colossus, thresher, or finks.
Any input?
Also, any elves tech?
-JP
lastly, any recommendations of what to side vs the darkdepths/thopter combo? Bloodmoon+grudge +2 extirpate? -4 punishing fire, -4 scapeshift, -2 lightning bolt?