MTG Salvation

I had actually been meaning to post my list with Saheeli+Felidar in it, so thanks for bringing that up again, adri_kalo. There was a link to a list a few pages back that did well in a league with Saheeli/Felidar--no chords, but 4 Oath of Nissa and 4 Eldritch Evolution. I toyed around with the list and was very impressed with Saheeli/Felidar--but less wowed by Oath of Nissa and emphasizing Renegade Rallier shenanigans. While it was fun to blink Oath, or play a second Oath and then Rallier it back--it wasn't really winning games. So I upped my 1cc mana dorks to maximize turn 2 Saheeli and made room for both Chord and Evolution. Here is my current list:



I've been jamming it a ton on xmage with success against a wide field and now that I just finished the deck in paper, I'm excited to play in the large weekly modern tournaments we have out in Boston/Cambridge. Sideboard is a little all over the place and is in constant shuffle. Lots of burn on xmage, so the Leylines are likely due to a warped meta. As for the main, I'm pretty happy with it. Chord decks to me have always felt like I can never fit everything I want into the 60. I'd love to run the 4th Chord, Evo, and Saheeli--but Paths are too necessary to cut and I don't like going below 26ish creatures for a Chord deck.

Saheeli+Felidar offers a powerful angle of attack that offers incredible value and more routes to infinite--Resto+Kiki, Felidar+Kiki, Felidar+Saheeli. Saheeli is a fantastic turn 2 play that offers card selection with scry, value with etb effects, or even mana by copying a mana dork or generating another creature for convoking Chord. Evolution is incredibly powerful and can steal games you thought you had lost. It is very good at turning 2-drops into Felidar or 3-drops into Kiki.

This thread can be difficult to parse at times because there are 3-4 variants being discussed at any given time, but this is the version that has most impressed me thus far. And if the Saheeli+Felidar route needs differentiating or a naming distinction, then "Kitty Chord" is the obvious choice, imo.

Some of the approaches on your list aren't really fundamentally different--they just use different win conditions.

Herald is an interesting route that I haven't seen, and seems different enough to require some form of small write-up. Similarly, the builds using tron lands are another viable version that could be elaborated upon. Otherwise, it seems to me that the primer could update its "win conditions" section and take care of several "versions" by itself.

On a different note, I'm not impressed with Thopter-Sword postboard, as it gets hit by *all* of the same hate that your main combo does.

I've been playing around with this deck a little bit and I'm surprised that Laboratory Maniac hasn't been seen much play as a victory condition. It beats infinite life, seems faster to execute online than Pyrite Spellbomb, and dodges most commonly-played cards that stop other win conditions (Leyline, Bridge, etc), can be recurred with Codex Shredder if they counter it, and you can win without ever giving them priority with Chromatic Sphere--as Sphere is a mana ability that cannot be responded to.

With Odyssey-7E-Onslaught standard being my favorite standard era of all time, I wanted to recreate my favorite deck from that format in Commander. I also want this deck at a specific power level; I want it to hang with ruthless death-machines, but I don't want it to become a ruthless death-machine itself. My playgroup has no interest in playing against my other Commander decks--Doomsday, which kills on turn 3 or 4 with protection; Nissa, which ramps heard, tutors for answers, and ends the game with typical green bombs; and Daretti Stax, which locks the table and makes everyone miserable. So I want a deck that's less powerful, but isn't completely hopeless against decks of that caliber. My girlfriend has an Erebos deck filled with wraths and will play with Nissa as well. So that's what this deck will face most often when not at my LGS.

Onto the list!
Commander: Wort, Boggart Auntie


There are some obvious exclusions due to budget (Vampiric Tutor, Wheel of Fortune, Badlands, more fetches), as I'm not playing >$25 cards, and some other exclusions (Lightning Crafter, Zealous Conscripts), because I'm not playing any infinite combos.

Against the decks I face most often, Goblin lackey and Warrern Instigator rarely punch through. I'm testing Tarfire and Nameless Inversion in their stead, for repeatable removal. They serve completely different functions, but I normally play Commander in a more controlling fashion to contain other players. I do like Warren Instigator more with all the lord-effects, so I'd like to find room for him at least.

Bojuka Bog and Nihil Spellbomb serve double-duty as graveyard hate and making my mass reanimation better. I was also considering Ill-Gotten Gains to further capitalize on them.

Buried Alive works well with Wort and insanely well with Necrotic Ooze.

I would definitely appreciate any feedback that keeps me in line with my parameters. Thanks for reading!

That question has been discussed at length in earlier pages.

Anticipate gives you card selection and is useful when setting up and going off. Manamorphose is only great when you're already winning, and helps on mana--which I think is less important than card selection. I fizzle more often because I run of gas, rather than running out of mana. I'm sure the pro-Manamorphose camp will chime in to hash this out again.

You can gather what individual people will suggest for your list by reading the last 5 pages. I'll tell you that I don't like cards that are only good when you're already winning (Wisps and Manamorphose) and that you're running 2 fewer creatures than I like. Others will affirm your choices. Others still will push for maindeck Spellskites or Silences.

The archetype does not really have a set list, due to lack of results and winning performances. So people's feedback will likely mirror their personal lists.

In any case, Treasured Find is almost strictly better than Reborn Hope, and Hydroform seems really slow.

I'm not particularly worried, as I have Abrupt Decay to wish for in game 1--and then 2 Wear//Tear to bring in alongside that tactic post-board.

I generally prefer the Gifts-less version of the deck.

I can't see why Elemental Uprising is better than Hydroform, which can be wished for. I'm not personally interested in turning lands into creatures in this version. It's too slow. It effectively costs 3 mana unless you have a Probe or Revival to untap it for free.

And Slip through Space solves a problem that is already solved by Fatestitcher tapping down blockers or winning with Flesh / Blood.

Tangle Wire, Rishadan Port, and Tendrils of Agony aren't legal in this format, so the only case I can think of for Mana Confluence would be if the opponent has an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in play or if you're playing the mirror and your opponent is porting your City of Brass with their Fatestitcher. Mana Confluence is better, but the difference doesn't seem to matter much in modern. The difference for me is that I have City of Brass, and I don't have Mana Confluences.

If you're going to play 6 rainbow lands, I do like 2-3 Gemstone Mines to stave lifeloss.

I dislike it as you not only lose to Ghost Quarter (which will be seeing more play until Eye of Ugin is banned), but you can't go off with it unless you have a Fatestitcher in play--in which case you're likely already winning.

Don't most of the wishboards in this thread have at least 1 Wear//Tear in them?

Quote from Yeahfootball_66 »

I would consider playing a Noxious revival or two, maybe cutting it to 15 lands and shaving another card off. I think Faithless Looting is a very strong tool for this deck (If you play fatestitcher) especially if you're playing noxious revival. You can essentially use the yard as an extension of your hand. I've never thought of playing Leyline, and quite frankly I think it's worthless. I play against predominantly Jund and Black-based control decks in my meta, and Those cards almost feel like a time walk in my benefit. If they take one of my pieces, I play enough dig that it's not going to matter all too much and I also don't have to worry about a lightning bolt or some other clock entering the field when they cast an inquisition or Thoughtseize turn 1.

Having said that, I don't play against much affinity, so is it worth playing any artifact hate? I feel like we can combo off fast enough before we die, but not much affinity around where I'm at to test that.

Interesting. In my testing, Leyline has been invaluable because getting my Glittering Wish or Ascendancy hit by discard is a beating. Your cantrips do work, but they not enough to make you just not care about discard. Leyline protecting your creatures from Liliana is also highly relevant, as is buying time vs burn. Jund/Junk is rough, I find accounts of breezing past it hard to believe.

Also, 15 lands seems dangerously low.

I don't know how I feel about the two Wear // Tear in my board. I have considered cutting one to just wish for to make room for another card for sideboarding or wishing for.

My list on page 28 isn't up to date. I'm currently testing the following:



Still tweaking some numbers and trying some things out in the 3 slots that are currently taken up by the 2nd Noxious Revival (which I appreciate immensely) and 2 Izzet Charms (solid swiss army knife of a spell). I also want to try maindeck Spellskite, Monastery Mentor, Silence, or additional cantrips/draw spells for greater speed and consistency.

I'm still waiting on a few cards to arrive from Pucatrade, so I haven't been able to play in events yet. Will need to evaluate the meta in Cambridge, MA for more insightful card choices.

Except you *are* dependent on your graveyard, because otherwise Visions is terrible.

Grapeshot solves almost no problems that tight play would also solve. Blockers? Fatestitcher or Flesh//Blood. Hatebears? They'll impede your ability to storm out anyways, and you have removal in the board to wish for. Wasted slot.

I've stated my views on Wisps and Manamorphose. It's getting to the "agree to disagree" phase of the debate. Manamorphose at least beats Blood Moon, lets you better go off with one creature (though in a list with no Fatestitchers, you could just as easily and more effectively solve that problem with Fatestitchers, which also solve other problems), and fixes your mana. Wisps, however, is *only* good when you're going off--i.e. already winning. I don't want cards that require me to be winning to be at their best. I want cards that *get* me to that point, get me back to that point, and are solid when I'm there.

I just think that Wisps and Manamorphose are cards that are great when you're goldfishing--but are less good when your opponent is interacting with you. In any case, Manamorphose is also requires two mana, which is your same knock against Anticipate. It's not free. It's cool that it generates mana when going off--but card quality is more often your bottleneck when going off, not mana. Anticipate is also much better when setting up or rebuilding.

I don't want a card that is at its best when I'm already winning. That's why I'm uninterested in both Wisps and Manamorphose.

You're welcome to try it, but I tend to trust my results over the opinions of people who aren't playing the deck that I'm playing. I had Manamorphose in my initial builds, but it didn't speed me up and it didn't give me the consistency that Anticipate does. But certainly let us know if your results and opinion reverses on the card.

EFro's article is a solid intro for people new to the deck--it was actually a driving force for me to start testing it. I think it's important to stress that there is no "optimal" list that has been set in stone. Card choices and their numbers can be tweaked to preference and meta.