Rhythm of the Wild in combination with any persist creature with an ETB effect and a sac outlet gives you infinite ETB/LTB triggers (cause they enter with a +1/+1 counter (from Riot) which negates Persist).
Rythm is a decent card on it's own (especially if play on turn 2 via a Bird), cause it makes every creature you cast afterwards straight up better (dream is of course with an Persist creature, which will "never" die again). Only question is: In which shell it might fit in or is it just to cute?
Greetings,
Kathal
Well I am putting three of them into my Combo Janiifar deck. Finks and Redcaps are persis people and Jannifar just loves haste. The deck is besides the lands two other Rhythms and four CHords all creatures so there are a lot of canditates who want to abuse it.
My friend made the same remark about the two Kikis, but my reasoning for have two of them is simply this. I tried to play only one when Pod was still legal for a while, but several times I ran into a, quite frankly, major problem. There was several games when that Kiki would get stuck in my hand and almost all of those games would end in a loss, either I would grind my opponent down by podding Restos from the Finks or I would have to spend a turn or two in scrounging up lands and mana dorks to cast Kiki. Also there is ever the possibility that when Kiki was in my hand that my opponent would simply Thoughtseize it.
I think that one Rallier is enough since if it is in my hand and I have I mana dork on the battlefield I can Pod into (I think we might need to update our lexicon, but Vannify just doesn't have the same ring to it) a Scryb Ranger, Untap Vannifar, Pod the Ranger into a Deceiver Exarch and just cast the the Rallier, return something useful into my hand and then continue Poding from there.
Also Rhythm of the Wild is looking like really sweet card. Haste or +1/+1 counters on all the men and protection from counter spells.
A karve made from copper comes ashore from the sea. An old man, his beard pearly white and long enough to reach his waist, steps out. An elf steps out after him. Her arms and legs are clearly not the same as with which she was born. She asks from the old man: "What are these cold and desolate lands?" "These are the lands which I once sang from the sea, and to which I promised to return when I was once again needed and called for. There is much to be done here with your help." The pair starts walking inland.
Welcome to The People's Pod deck tech (Name pending. Kiki-Pod People/Vannifar Pod/Vannifar Chord?). I started my Modern career with a cute little deck called Melira-Chord, but I quickly moved onwards to strongers. One evening on my way to the FNM there was this odd looking fellow hanging near the local gamestore. When I walked past him he whispered to me: "Hey kid, I heard you like Creature Combo decks?" I nodded my head and as he opened the left side of his trench coat he whispered: "May I intrest you with some stronger stuff?", revealing Birthing Pod, Restoration Angel, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and all other cards just hanging from the inside of his trench coat. And what can I say, I was hooked. For the next nearly three years I just kept on turning The Pod sideways over and over again. Now kids if a stranger offers you powerful and slightly broken Magic the Gathering cards... You take them! Those thing are expensive! You might understand that I was heartbroken when Pod was banned four years ago, so much so that I have not touched the format since, but the times... they indeed are a-changin'.
Now that the day's dose of humour is out of the way lets getto actual business.
What is this deck's battle plan?
This deck's wins by landing a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and a untap outlet. Either a Deceiver Exarch, a Restoration Angel or a Zealous Conscripts. Everything else in the deck aims in getting you there as fast as possible and keeping you alive long enough to get you there.
How does it exactly get your opponents life to zero?
Here's an example of a winning board state.
You have Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker on the battle along with, for this example, Deceiver Exarch
You use Kiki's activated ability and make a token copy of the Exarch.
The token comes into play you target Kiki with its triggered ability and untap Kiki.
Now you again have an untapped Kiki and can repeat the process over and over again until you have enough Exarchs to kill your oppnent dead.
Alpha strike!
Why should I play this deck over other Creatures Toolbox decks?
Honestly, at the moment, I don't know for obvious reasons, but I will be updating my play group's and anybody else's who wants to contribute experiences with it.
The philosophy of the deck and how to build your very own Kiki-Pod:
What is Kiki-Pod? Kiki-Pod is a deck with a very powerful engine that leads to a game ending combo. I know that's a bit vague, but that is because the deck kind of is. That is because there are several different ways to build the deck. Illustrating what I mean by that might be easier through examples. So lets do just that. Here are four distinct lists which have shown promise:
The first one is a pure combo oriented list which if given the chance to untap with Vannifar right then and there.
The second one aims to generate value through Voices, Rhythms, Finkses and Restoration Angels, but it also has the ability to just chain for the game ending combo.
The third example is SquaChief's list with which he 5-0'ed a MTGO event. It isn't completely all in with comboing off, nor is trying to just generate value. Instead it uses creatures that can generate value and also has a lot of possibilities from where to combo off.
The last one is what I've been running. Compared to SquaChief's list it uses some different cards as tech. It does aim to generate more value, shooting Silver Bullets to get through difficult board states and be less reliant on the combo aspect.
Now, looking at these deck lists maybe you can see what I mean when I say that the deck is a bit vague? If you don't then let me show ya.
Here are all the spell cards that are shared between all the deck: Shared Cards 3-4x Birds of Paradise 3-4x Noble Hierarch 1-2x Scavenging Ooze 1x Scryb Ranger 3-4x Prime Speaker Vannifar 1-2x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker 3x Chord of Calling
That means that only about fifteen cards at the least that are locked in their slots and twenty cards at the most. In addition you will want to play 22 to 23 lands. This leaves us about twenty slots to play around with. With which to tune our decks to fit the meta game. The us start with cards that have similar functions to each other. I will highlight cards pairs that are must include one and which are optional.
Effective Reprints
For these cards the amounts are what the above lists, and most others, play at maximum of. The Mana Dorks 2x Wall of Roots
Some decks choose to augment their mana generation with trusty old Wall of Roots.
The Untappers
These are the cards that you want to use to untap Vannifar so that you can power your Pod chains and with which you can untap Kiki-Jiki to generate an arbitrary amount of tokens with which to your opponent with. 3x Bounding Krasis 1x Deceiver Exarch 1x Village Bell-ringer
Krasis, Exarch and Bell-ringer are your untappers at the 3 CMC slot. You will want at least one of them in any Pod list. 2x Breaching Hippocamp 2x Restoration Angel
At 4 CMC our untappers are Hippocamps and Restoration Angels. All the lists play combination of two to three of these. 1x Zealous Conscripts 1x Sky Hussar
And then we get to the 5 CMC slot. All the lists play only up to one of either of these. Value lists don't even play a single one of them since they are not really worth the five mana that are required to cast them.
The Recursion 1x Eternal Witness 1x Renegade Rallier
When your opponent Thoughtseizes you for a critical combo piece you will want to get it back into your hand or with Rallier straight into the battlefield. Additionally Rallier can be used alongside Scryb Ranger to chain into 4 CMC creatures with Vannifar
Combo Protection 1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty 1x Spellskite
Shalai and Spellskite are what you want to protect your creatures with from Bolts, Paths and whatever else your opponent aims to aim at them. Spellskite is the cheaper option and can be used against Infect and if you have enough U also against Burn effectively. Shalai on the other hand is much better against Burn but can't really deal with Infect. On the other hand it is very good when the game turns into a grind thanks to its activated ability.
The Tutor 1-3x Eldritch Evolution
Some people include Eldritch Evolution as a complimentary tutor. Its strength being that it is a lot cheaper compared to Chord.
Besides these cards there are dozens of different options that the deck could run, from Coiling Oracle to Rhythmn of thr Wilds and Glen Elendra Archmages.
Now there are the essential cards and card types what you need to build your Kiki-Pod deck. With this information let analyze SquaChief's list.
It has 23 lands, 20 cards that are "must includes", 13 of alternate cards and four complimentary ones.
Card choices: Under construction
The Thin Green Line
Like all other Creature Toolbox decks Kiki-Pod People stands on shoulders of its mana dorks. The main culprits are: Birds of Paradise:What can I say, really. In a vacuum Birds is the best mana dork there is. It creates all the colours and it costs just a single G. It comes down the very first turn and on the next one you have access to 50% than your opponent. Also it, in a pinch, does block flyers. If you are not running four birds in your list you have to answer one important, yet simple, question: "Why?" Noble Hierarch: Also known by her street name Bant Bird. She doesn't fly nor does she provide R or B mana, but if the game turns into a grindfest she does provide something very valuable, Exalted. Exalted is great if you, for certainty know that were you to Chain to Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and a Deceiver Exarch you would be unable to protect them with your opponent probably just killing Kiki and leaving you with a Exarch on board for all of your troubles in the end. Although it can be argued that this much less of a problem with Vannifar compared to the Notorious POD since you won't need to pay two, four, six or even eight life to Chain all the way to Kiki. Wall of Roots:Lets start with the weaknesses that Wall of Roots has. I can only generate G, it can only do it five times without outside assistance and it costs twice as much as Birds and Noble does. And here are reasons why you want to play it. It can produce two G mana between your untap steps and it doesn't need to tap itself to do that. That means you can use it to ramp your stuff on your turn and cast instants on your opponent's turn. And here's when it become truly broken, if that instant spell is a Chord of Calling the Wall of Roots can effectively produce three mana between your untap steps since you can in addition tap it to contribute to Chord's Convoke cost. Wall of Roots is one of the best, if not the best, mana dorks when it comes to producing explosive amounts of mana. Also it has a really thicc rear end and can block a lot of your opponent's creatures for days.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more! Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker:My Main Man Kiki-Jiki, the hammer that pounds the metaphorical nails into out opponents. Since he has haste and has the ability to create copies of our other creatures, as long as you have a creature in play that either blinks or untaps anoter creature you can create an arbitarily large army of tokens to overwhelm your opponents' defences and kill them. Now his negative aspects his quite high CMC of five, although you rarely cast him, and that since he has a thoughness of two he literaly dies to every removal in the format besides Gut Shot and Fatal Push. Now this means that if you are not sure that you opponent doesn't have any removal, nor are forced to Combo off that very moment you probably will want to protect him. Good options are Shalai, Voice of Plenty, Spellskite or just holding a Negate or a Apostle's Blessing in your hand. Deceiver Exarch:The Exarch is the cheapest of our finishers at 3 CMC. It is also a centerpiece of most of our Pod Chains and can be a great combat trick due to having Flash, its ability to tap and untap permanents and its higher than average toughness compared to its mana cost. Restoration Angel:The Angel, or as some call her Resto, is our finisher piece at 4 CMC. She used to be a more central part back during the days of the Notorious POD, with blinking creatures with ETB triggers or saving them from targeted removal spells. Now the decks that are being brewed lean more towards assembling the combo as fast as possible, but one could still consider build a more Midrange deck with a combo finisher which would put Resto back in the spotlight as a three to four of instead of the one or two of that decks are currently running. Zealous Conscripts: The sun might be setting on Zealous Conscripts. They are our finisher at the 5 CMC and and integral part of two of our Pod chains. But his mana cost makes him a bit akward piece to hardcast from your hand and its ETB trigger is not always that useful. It can have some good, sometimes even extremely explosive, results. Have you ever podded you opponents Siege Rhino, or better yet, taken advatage of your opponents foolishness and "borrowed" their Karn Liberated... at 14 Loyalty. I have, it was fun. Breaching Hippocamp:Hippocamp is the new kid on the block. It shares the 4 CMC slot with Restoration Angel and one could argue that it might be a good idea to just ditch Ol' Resto and W mana all together and smooth out our mana and the self inflicted pain that running six to eight shocklands brings us. Plus Hippocamp improves out chaining since it merely untaps the target instead of blinking it like Resto does, which can be used to reset Vannifar for further chaining. Sky Hussar:
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Prime Speaker Vannifar: Vannifar's strength is that she can tutor up multiple creatures during a single turn and that she is a creature. Also her activated ability is in a completely different league than the one Birthing Pod was sporting. There were situations in which we just couldn't Pod off due to not having enough mana and/or paying the life cost would have meant that we would end up in burn range. Now her weaknesses are that she needs to sacrifice a creature for each tutor, so you won't be gaining creature advantage from her and that she is a creature. Yes being a creature is both a strength and a weakness, it all depends on the game state.
Being a creature means that she is vulnerable to creature removal (I know blah blah dies to removal), but this is compared to the Notorious POD, which being an artifact meant that a lot of decks did not run removal for it main deck. Also she suffers from summoning sickness, which means that without help, which granted does exist, can't combo off the turn she is cast.
Now, why is being a creature a positive? Because you can Chord her when you opponent passes the turn and go off on your own turn making vulnerable only to instant speed removal. Also you can use for example Shalai, Voice of Plenty and other creature protection to shield her, which are much more prevalent than artifact protection. Chord of Calling: Chord is of our tutors actually the only one that nets card advantage, it can be cast at instant speed and though it is and expensive card you can use your creatures to pay for its casting cost. Additionally you are not bound to tutor only targets that based on the creatures you have in play unlike with Vannifar and Evolution, but by the amount of mana you have. Eldritch Evolution: Evolution is the illegal drag racing car of our tutors. You get it online turns earlier than Vannifar and Chord, it costs a fixed amount of mana and if you are lucky enough you get to draw and cast it again, but you need a creature to cast it and the creatures you have in play determine what you can tutor for. Its strength is that it is cheap to cast and you get the results a lot quicker compared to Vannifar and chord, but since you can't use it multiple times a turn it isn't as easy to set up the combo when compared to Vannifar. And since it is a sorcery it doesn't have the same kind of surprise element as Chord has.
The Backup How many are there? There's a lot of them, sire.
This is where each deck starts to apply their own spice to the brew. This is where you start making meaningful choices for your deck. Do you want to be almost solely a combo oriented deck? Or do you go more of a slightly Midrange path?
The Pod Chains:
(I don't really know what would the proper name since we don't technically run Pod, but people seem to be refering to them as Pod Chains still.)
All these chains expect you to have a Prime Speaker Vannifar on board and online.
-Pod the two drop into a Deceiver Exarch
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the one drop into a Phantasmal Image
-Copy the Exarch with the Image
-Untap Vannifar with copied Exarch trigger
-Pod the Image that copied Exarch into a Restoration Angel
-Blink the Exarch with the Angel trigger
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the Angel into a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
-Pod the one drop into a Scryb Ranger
-Bounce a Forest and untap Vannifar
-Pod Scryb Ranger into a Renegade Rallier
-Return the Scryb Ranger into play with Rallier's Revolt trigger
-Bounce a Forest and Untap Vannifar
-Pod the Scryb Ranger into a Deceiver Exarch
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the Rallier into a Restoration Angel
-Blink the Exarch with the Angel trigger
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the Angel into a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
-Pod the two drop into a Deceiver Exarch
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the three-drop into a Restoration Angel
-Blink the Exarch with the Angel trigger
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the Angel into a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
-Pod the four-drop into Zealous Conscripts
-Untap Vannifar with the Conscripts trigger
-Pod the three-drop into a Restoration Angel
-Blink Conscripts with the Angel trigger
-Untap Vannifar with the Conscripts trigger
-Pod the Angel into Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
Some more specific board states from which you can Pod off from:
-Pod the one drop into Phantasmal Image
-Copy Deceiver Exarch with the Image
-Untap Vannifar with the copied Exarch's trigger
-Pod the copied Exarch's into Restoration Angel
-Blink the Exarch with the Angel trigger
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch's trigger
-Pod the Angel into Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
-Pod the Glen Elendra Archmage or Murderous Redcap
-The Archmage's/Redcap's Persist triggers
-The Archmage/Redcap returns to play
-Vannifar's activated ability resolves. Search for Zealous Conscripts
-Untap Vannifar with the Conscripts trigger
-Pod the Archmage/Archmage into Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
-Pod the three-drop into Ranger of Eos
-Search for Seedcradle Witch (and a one-drop you might need)
-Play the Witch
-Use the Witch's activated ability and untap Vannifar
-Pod the Witch into Scryb Ranger
-Pod Scryb Ranger into a Renegade Rallier
-Return the Scryb Ranger into play with Rallier's Revolt trigger
-Bounce a Forest and untap Vannifar
-Pod the Ranger into Deceiver Exarch
-Untap Vannifar with Exarch's trigger
-Pod Ranger into Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
-Play, fetch or already have Dryad Arbor on board
-Pod Arbor into a Seedcradle Witch
-Untap Vannifar with the Witch's activated ability
-Pod the Witch into a Scryb Ranger
-Bounce a Forest and untap Vannifar
-Pod the Scryb Ranger into a Deceiver Exarch
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the Rallier into a Restoration Angel
-Blink the Exarch with the Angel trigger
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the Angel into a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
-Pod the two-drop into a Deceiver Exarch
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the Exarch into a Restoration Gearsmith
-Cast the Exarch and untap Vannifar with the Exarch's comes into play trigger
-Pod the Gearsmith into a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
For this chain to function your deck needs to have the following cards in it, but its beauty is that once you get up on a ladder you can ignore everything below it. There are two different paths and I will note when they diverge, but lets get on with the show:
0. Prime Speaker Vannifar
1. Fetch Land for a Dryad Arbor
2. Pod Arbor into a Seedcradle Witch
3. Untap Vannifar with the Witch and Pod the Witch into a Scryb Ranger
4. Untap Vannifar with the Ranger by returning a Forest and Pod the Ranger into a Bounding Krasis or a Deceiver Exarch and untap Vannifar with the ETB trigger.
5. Pod the Krasis/Exarch into a Breaching Hippocamp and untap Vannifar with the Hippocamp trigger
6. Pod the Hippocamp into a Sky Hussar or a Zealous Conscripts. The ETB trigger untaps Vannifar
7. Pod the Hussar/Conscripts into a Woodland Bellowe or a Sun Titan
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8a. With the Bellower Trigger fetch a 2nd Krasis from you deck. Untap Vannifar with the Krasis trigger
9a. Pod the Krasis into a 2nd Hippocamp. Untap Vannifar with the Hippocamp trigger.
10a. Pod the Hippocamp into a Kiki-Jiki. Copy the Bellower with Kiki-Jiki's activated ability.
11a. Fetch a 3rd Krasis. Untap Kiki-Jiki with Krasis's trigger.
12a. Combo off!
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8b. With the Sun Titan trigger return Exarch/Krasis to the battlefield. Untap Vannifar with the ETB trigger.
9b. Pod the Exarch/Krasis into a Restoration Angel. Blink the Sun Titan and return the Exarch/Krasis to the battlefield. Untap Vannifar with the ETB trigger.
10b. Pod the Restoration Angel into a Kiki-Jiki
11b. Combo off!
BUT! Let me warn you about Deceiver Exarch's
Before everything is find and dandy and you got for the Alpha Strike, let me remind you about the card that is the bane of our deck. The Rakdos Charm. If you have suspicion that your opponent just might have it, i.e. they have a Mountain and a Swamp untapped, it is way much easier and less painful to upgrade your Deceiver Exarch into a Restoration Angel by following these simple steps.
You have a tapped Prime Speaker Vannifar, a untapped Kiki-Jiki, Mirrorbreaker and a Deceiver Exarch in play:
-Use Kiki-Jiki's activated ability and target Exarch
-The Exarch's copy comes into play
-Target Vannifar with the Exarch's triggered ability
-Untap Vannifar
-Pod the Exarch's Copy into a Restoration Angel
-Target Kiki-Jiki with the Angel's triggered ability and Blink Kiki-Jiki
-Combo off
Now would this be important enough for it to receive its very own section? Because back in the day, yours truly, finished 9th in a PTQ because in the final round he faced against a Jund deck. We were in the third game. My opponent was holding a single mystery card. I think I had a Deceiver and a four drop on board at least. I drew a Pod. I was slightly ahead on board, but I decided to cast the Pod and Pod the four drop into a Kiki to close the match now and then. I created enough tokens to kill my opponent and then my opponent cast his Rakdos Charm. I walked right into his trap. After the match I did the math and if I had upgraded the Exarch into a Restoration Angel I would have won. Now since we do not play artifacts anymore the Charm's "Kill Us" mode is even more prevalent, since they won't be wasting it on the Birthing Pod.
Now here is my current deck list which by far is not finished.
PS Original message:
" So I'm finally, after three years in exile, returning to the Modern format. Can you guess why?
So my deck is almost ready, but I need some help figuring out the mana base. All advice would be welcome."
PSS Ten points to the person who figures the reference at the beginning.
Dangit. Could something be done with Aven Surveyer instead?
Well if you had a generic mana and a instant or a sorcery in your graveyard you could use Disciple of the Ring.
Other than that, you'd need access to red cards, Zealous Conscripts being the culprit. Trust me, me and my buddies went through every option back in the day when we tried to abuse Pod Comboes, both in Legacy (please don't ask about that) and Modern.
For Modern, Vannifar may be a turn slower than pod for a single activation, but she has the benefits of not costing your life, trust me getting your Kiki-Jiki burned after you have spent 8 life for it hurted in a lot of match-ups and you can in cases that you go off keep rebuttals for their answers up instead of using 2-4 mana for the chain. Heck you might actually be able to tutor up another chain if you are holding an Exarch in your hand.
To put it simple, he was cheating. The fact that you already instructed the player to replace their Snow-Covered lands should have been enough, but the fact that the player clearly know Awakened Amalgam worked with their Snow-Covered lands and that they somehow had seven rares in their deck and sideboard, four of a card that specifically benefited from their behaviour would have confirmed my suspicions.
Although cheating is not specifically mentioned in the Judging at the Regular Rules Enforcement Level document and players do make mistakes I do find it unacceptable if a player clearly displays a pattern of cheating. You are there to make sure all the players feel that every other player is playing a fair game.
To put it simple, he was cheating. The fact that you already instructed the player to replace their Snow-Covered lands should have been enough, but the fact that the player clearly know Awakened Amalgam worked with their Snow-Covered lands and that they somehow had seven rares in their deck and sideboard, four of a card that specifically benefited from their behaviour would have confirmed my suspicions.
Although cheating is not specifically mentioned in the Judging at the Regular Rules Enforcement Level document and players do make mistakes I do find it unacceptable if a player clearly displays a pattern of cheating. You are there to make sure all the players feel that every other player is playing a fair game.
L1 Judge here.
If a token would change the zone where it is, it is exiled instead. It is not a trigger, but a replacement effect.
So, no you can't use Thelon's ability since there is nothing to repond to.
Well that was a fun format. See you in 2019 when they finaly unban Pod, since as an unemployed I can't afford a new deck.
(Hint there has been only one format in past two years that I've been playing.)
Well I am putting three of them into my Combo Janiifar deck. Finks and Redcaps are persis people and Jannifar just loves haste. The deck is besides the lands two other Rhythms and four CHords all creatures so there are a lot of canditates who want to abuse it.
A user named Lectrys, the very same Lectrys who was a staple member of the Kiki-Pod thread... I'm really glad he is brewing with Vannifar
I think that one Rallier is enough since if it is in my hand and I have I mana dork on the battlefield I can Pod into (I think we might need to update our lexicon, but Vannify just doesn't have the same ring to it) a Scryb Ranger, Untap Vannifar, Pod the Ranger into a Deceiver Exarch and just cast the the Rallier, return something useful into my hand and then continue Poding from there.
Also Rhythm of the Wild is looking like really sweet card. Haste or +1/+1 counters on all the men and protection from counter spells.
The BoB versus Hierarch split is merely something that we are trying out at the moment with my play group.
Welcome to The People's Pod deck tech (Name pending. Kiki-Pod People/Vannifar Pod/Vannifar Chord?). I started my Modern career with a cute little deck called Melira-Chord, but I quickly moved onwards to strongers. One evening on my way to the FNM there was this odd looking fellow hanging near the local gamestore. When I walked past him he whispered to me: "Hey kid, I heard you like Creature Combo decks?" I nodded my head and as he opened the left side of his trench coat he whispered: "May I intrest you with some stronger stuff?", revealing Birthing Pod, Restoration Angel, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and all other cards just hanging from the inside of his trench coat. And what can I say, I was hooked. For the next nearly three years I just kept on turning The Pod sideways over and over again. Now kids if a stranger offers you powerful and slightly broken Magic the Gathering cards... You take them! Those thing are expensive! You might understand that I was heartbroken when Pod was banned four years ago, so much so that I have not touched the format since, but the times... they indeed are a-changin'.
Now that the day's dose of humour is out of the way lets getto actual business.
What is this deck's battle plan?
This deck's wins by landing a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and a untap outlet. Either a Deceiver Exarch, a Restoration Angel or a Zealous Conscripts. Everything else in the deck aims in getting you there as fast as possible and keeping you alive long enough to get you there.
How does it exactly get your opponents life to zero?
Here's an example of a winning board state.
You have Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker on the battle along with, for this example, Deceiver Exarch
You use Kiki's activated ability and make a token copy of the Exarch.
The token comes into play you target Kiki with its triggered ability and untap Kiki.
Now you again have an untapped Kiki and can repeat the process over and over again until you have enough Exarchs to kill your oppnent dead.
Alpha strike!
Why should I play this deck over other Creatures Toolbox decks?
Honestly, at the moment, I don't know for obvious reasons, but I will be updating my play group's and anybody else's who wants to contribute experiences with it.
The philosophy of the deck and how to build your very own Kiki-Pod:
What is Kiki-Pod? Kiki-Pod is a deck with a very powerful engine that leads to a game ending combo. I know that's a bit vague, but that is because the deck kind of is. That is because there are several different ways to build the deck. Illustrating what I mean by that might be easier through examples. So lets do just that. Here are four distinct lists which have shown promise:
The first one is a pure combo oriented list which if given the chance to untap with Vannifar right then and there.
2 Breeding Pool
3 Forest
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Wooded Foothills
Creatures (29)
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Coiling Oracle
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
3 Bounding Krasis
1 Eternal Witness
1 Magus of the Moon
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Breaching Hippocamp
4 Prime Speaker Vannifar
2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Woodland Bellower
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Sorceries (4)
2 Postmortem Lunge
2 Eldritch Evolution
Instants (3)
3 Chord of Calling
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Abrade
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Blood Moon
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Tireless Tracker
1 Avalanche Riders
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Thragtusk
2 Breeding Pool
3 Forest
1 Gavony Township
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
Creatures (32)
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Wall of Roots
1 Deceiver Exarch
1 Eternal Witness
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Knight of Autumn
1 Renegade Rallier
2 Restoration Angel
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
4 Prime Speaker Vannifar
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
3 Chord of Calling
Enchantments (3)
3 Rhythm of the Wild
1 Avalanche Riders
3 Damping Sphere
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Fiery Justice
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Lone Missionary
1 Magus of the Moon
2 Path to Exile
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Remorseful Cleric
2 Breeding Pool
3 Forest
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Wooded Foothills
Creatures (31)
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Spellskite
1 Wall of Roots
3 Bounding Krasis
1 Deputy of Detention
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Tireless Tracker
2 Breaching Hippocamp
4 Prime Speaker Vannifar
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Woodland Bellower
1 Zealous Conscripts
3 Eldritch Evolution
Instants (3)
3 Chord of Calling
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Abrade
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Thragtusk
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1x Breeding Pool
1x Fire-Lit Thicket
2x Forest
1x Gavony Township
3x Grove of the Burnwillows
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Island
2x Misty Rainforest
1x Plains
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
3x Windswept Heath
3x Wooded Foothills
Creature (31)
3x Birds of Paradise
3x Noble Hierarch
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Scryb Ranger
1x Spellskite
1x Voice of Resurgence
2x Wall of Roots
1x Deceiver Exarch
1x Deputy of Detention
1x Eternal Witness
3x Kitchen Finks
1x Knight of Autumn
1x Renegade Rallier
1x Glen Elendra Archmage
3x Prime Speaker Vannifar
1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
2x Restoration Angel
1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty
2x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1x Sky Hussar
3x Chord of Calling
Enchantment (3)
3x Rhythm of the Wild
Sorcery (1)
1x Eldritch Evolution
2x Path to Exile
1x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Remorseful Cleric
1x Selfless Spirit
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Fulminator Mage
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Tireless Tracker
1x Avalanche Riders
1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
1x Reveillark
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
Here are all the spell cards that are shared between all the deck:
Shared Cards
3-4x Birds of Paradise
3-4x Noble Hierarch
1-2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Scryb Ranger
3-4x Prime Speaker Vannifar
1-2x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
3x Chord of Calling
That means that only about fifteen cards at the least that are locked in their slots and twenty cards at the most. In addition you will want to play 22 to 23 lands. This leaves us about twenty slots to play around with. With which to tune our decks to fit the meta game. The us start with cards that have similar functions to each other. I will highlight cards pairs that are must include one and which are optional.
Effective Reprints
For these cards the amounts are what the above lists, and most others, play at maximum of.
The Mana Dorks
2x Wall of Roots
Some decks choose to augment their mana generation with trusty old Wall of Roots.
The Untappers
These are the cards that you want to use to untap Vannifar so that you can power your Pod chains and with which you can untap Kiki-Jiki to generate an arbitrary amount of tokens with which to your opponent with.
3x Bounding Krasis
1x Deceiver Exarch
1x Village Bell-ringer
Krasis, Exarch and Bell-ringer are your untappers at the 3 CMC slot. You will want at least one of them in any Pod list.
2x Breaching Hippocamp
2x Restoration Angel
At 4 CMC our untappers are Hippocamps and Restoration Angels. All the lists play combination of two to three of these.
1x Zealous Conscripts
1x Sky Hussar
And then we get to the 5 CMC slot. All the lists play only up to one of either of these. Value lists don't even play a single one of them since they are not really worth the five mana that are required to cast them.
The Recursion
1x Eternal Witness
1x Renegade Rallier
When your opponent Thoughtseizes you for a critical combo piece you will want to get it back into your hand or with Rallier straight into the battlefield. Additionally Rallier can be used alongside Scryb Ranger to chain into 4 CMC creatures with Vannifar
Combo Protection
1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1x Spellskite
Shalai and Spellskite are what you want to protect your creatures with from Bolts, Paths and whatever else your opponent aims to aim at them. Spellskite is the cheaper option and can be used against Infect and if you have enough U also against Burn effectively. Shalai on the other hand is much better against Burn but can't really deal with Infect. On the other hand it is very good when the game turns into a grind thanks to its activated ability.
The Tutor
1-3x Eldritch Evolution
Some people include Eldritch Evolution as a complimentary tutor. Its strength being that it is a lot cheaper compared to Chord.
Besides these cards there are dozens of different options that the deck could run, from Coiling Oracle to Rhythmn of thr Wilds and Glen Elendra Archmages.
Now there are the essential cards and card types what you need to build your Kiki-Pod deck. With this information let analyze SquaChief's list.
It has 23 lands, 20 cards that are "must includes", 13 of alternate cards and four complimentary ones.
Card choices:
Under construction
Like all other Creature Toolbox decks Kiki-Pod People stands on shoulders of its mana dorks. The main culprits are:
Birds of Paradise:What can I say, really. In a vacuum Birds is the best mana dork there is. It creates all the colours and it costs just a single G. It comes down the very first turn and on the next one you have access to 50% than your opponent. Also it, in a pinch, does block flyers. If you are not running four birds in your list you have to answer one important, yet simple, question: "Why?"
Noble Hierarch: Also known by her street name Bant Bird. She doesn't fly nor does she provide R or B mana, but if the game turns into a grindfest she does provide something very valuable, Exalted. Exalted is great if you, for certainty know that were you to Chain to Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and a Deceiver Exarch you would be unable to protect them with your opponent probably just killing Kiki and leaving you with a Exarch on board for all of your troubles in the end. Although it can be argued that this much less of a problem with Vannifar compared to the Notorious POD since you won't need to pay two, four, six or even eight life to Chain all the way to Kiki.
Wall of Roots:Lets start with the weaknesses that Wall of Roots has. I can only generate G, it can only do it five times without outside assistance and it costs twice as much as Birds and Noble does. And here are reasons why you want to play it. It can produce two G mana between your untap steps and it doesn't need to tap itself to do that. That means you can use it to ramp your stuff on your turn and cast instants on your opponent's turn. And here's when it become truly broken, if that instant spell is a Chord of Calling the Wall of Roots can effectively produce three mana between your untap steps since you can in addition tap it to contribute to Chord's Convoke cost. Wall of Roots is one of the best, if not the best, mana dorks when it comes to producing explosive amounts of mana. Also it has a really thicc rear end and can block a lot of your opponent's creatures for days.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker:My Main Man Kiki-Jiki, the hammer that pounds the metaphorical nails into out opponents. Since he has haste and has the ability to create copies of our other creatures, as long as you have a creature in play that either blinks or untaps anoter creature you can create an arbitarily large army of tokens to overwhelm your opponents' defences and kill them. Now his negative aspects his quite high CMC of five, although you rarely cast him, and that since he has a thoughness of two he literaly dies to every removal in the format besides Gut Shot and Fatal Push. Now this means that if you are not sure that you opponent doesn't have any removal, nor are forced to Combo off that very moment you probably will want to protect him. Good options are Shalai, Voice of Plenty, Spellskite or just holding a Negate or a Apostle's Blessing in your hand.
Deceiver Exarch:The Exarch is the cheapest of our finishers at 3 CMC. It is also a centerpiece of most of our Pod Chains and can be a great combat trick due to having Flash, its ability to tap and untap permanents and its higher than average toughness compared to its mana cost.
Restoration Angel:The Angel, or as some call her Resto, is our finisher piece at 4 CMC. She used to be a more central part back during the days of the Notorious POD, with blinking creatures with ETB triggers or saving them from targeted removal spells. Now the decks that are being brewed lean more towards assembling the combo as fast as possible, but one could still consider build a more Midrange deck with a combo finisher which would put Resto back in the spotlight as a three to four of instead of the one or two of that decks are currently running.
Zealous Conscripts: The sun might be setting on Zealous Conscripts. They are our finisher at the 5 CMC and and integral part of two of our Pod chains. But his mana cost makes him a bit akward piece to hardcast from your hand and its ETB trigger is not always that useful. It can have some good, sometimes even extremely explosive, results. Have you ever podded you opponents Siege Rhino, or better yet, taken advatage of your opponents foolishness and "borrowed" their Karn Liberated... at 14 Loyalty. I have, it was fun.
Breaching Hippocamp:Hippocamp is the new kid on the block. It shares the 4 CMC slot with Restoration Angel and one could argue that it might be a good idea to just ditch Ol' Resto and W mana all together and smooth out our mana and the self inflicted pain that running six to eight shocklands brings us. Plus Hippocamp improves out chaining since it merely untaps the target instead of blinking it like Resto does, which can be used to reset Vannifar for further chaining.
Sky Hussar:
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Prime Speaker Vannifar: Vannifar's strength is that she can tutor up multiple creatures during a single turn and that she is a creature. Also her activated ability is in a completely different league than the one Birthing Pod was sporting. There were situations in which we just couldn't Pod off due to not having enough mana and/or paying the life cost would have meant that we would end up in burn range. Now her weaknesses are that she needs to sacrifice a creature for each tutor, so you won't be gaining creature advantage from her and that she is a creature. Yes being a creature is both a strength and a weakness, it all depends on the game state.
Being a creature means that she is vulnerable to creature removal (I know blah blah dies to removal), but this is compared to the Notorious POD, which being an artifact meant that a lot of decks did not run removal for it main deck. Also she suffers from summoning sickness, which means that without help, which granted does exist, can't combo off the turn she is cast.
Now, why is being a creature a positive? Because you can Chord her when you opponent passes the turn and go off on your own turn making vulnerable only to instant speed removal. Also you can use for example Shalai, Voice of Plenty and other creature protection to shield her, which are much more prevalent than artifact protection.
Chord of Calling: Chord is of our tutors actually the only one that nets card advantage, it can be cast at instant speed and though it is and expensive card you can use your creatures to pay for its casting cost. Additionally you are not bound to tutor only targets that based on the creatures you have in play unlike with Vannifar and Evolution, but by the amount of mana you have.
Eldritch Evolution: Evolution is the illegal drag racing car of our tutors. You get it online turns earlier than Vannifar and Chord, it costs a fixed amount of mana and if you are lucky enough you get to draw and cast it again, but you need a creature to cast it and the creatures you have in play determine what you can tutor for. Its strength is that it is cheap to cast and you get the results a lot quicker compared to Vannifar and chord, but since you can't use it multiple times a turn it isn't as easy to set up the combo when compared to Vannifar. And since it is a sorcery it doesn't have the same kind of surprise element as Chord has.
The Backup
How many are there? There's a lot of them, sire.
This is where each deck starts to apply their own spice to the brew. This is where you start making meaningful choices for your deck. Do you want to be almost solely a combo oriented deck? Or do you go more of a slightly Midrange path?
These are the cards that create the board states from which to Pod off to Kiki-Jiki and a untapper.
Glen Elendra Archamage:
Murderous Redcap:
Phantasmal Image:
Purphoros, God of the Forge:
Renegade Rallier:
Restoration Gearsmith:
Scryb Ranger:
Back in the day Kiki-Pod decks were essentially Midrange decks that could Pod off to victory from several of theit common board states. I have no idea if it is still a viable strategy, only time and testing will tell, but if you have to know my Gut Shot feeling I would say that focusing on the combo is probably a better option since the format has gotten a lot quicker.
Coiling Oracle:
Courser of Kruphix:
Domri, Chaos Bringer:
Eternal Witness:
Kitchen Finks:
Militia Bugler:
Reveillark:
Rhythm of the Wild:
Shalai, Voice of Plenty:
Sigarda, Host of Herons:
Thragtusk:
Thrun, the Last Troll:
Tireless Tracker:
Voice of Resurgence:
Ranger of Eos:
Seedcradle Witch:
Dryad Arbor:
Torch Courier:
Mikaeus, the Lunarch:
Mistcutter Hydra:
Figure of Destiny:
Walking Ballista:
If the previous was the seasoning that you apply to the deck this is where you apply the metaphorical salt and pepper and other
accoutrements. They are completely dependent on your meta game, but I will list the options that you might want to run. Some will make the main board and some are relegated to the sideboard, but they are all creatures so they can all be tutored up with our tutors.
Aven Mindcensor:
Avalanche Riders:
Deputy of Detention:
Eidolon of Rhetoric:
Fulminator Mage:
Gaddock Teeq:
Grand Abolisher:
Izzet Staticaster:
Kataki, War's Wage:
Knight of Autumn:
Knight of the Reliquary:
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade:
Linvala, Keeper of Silence:
Magus of the Moon:
Melira, Sylvok Outcast:
Obstinate Baloth:
Qasali Pridemage:
Remorseful Cleric:
Scavenging Ooze:
Selfless Spirit:
Spellskite:
The Fetches:
The Shocks:
The Basics:
The Filters:
Gavony Township:
Hall of the Bandit Lord:
Hanweir Battlements:
Kessig Wolf Run:
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
These are basically the cards that I would most often relegate to the sideboard and can't be searched with our tutors The list will be probably always be missing suggestion, so if you come up with something interesting give me a holler.
Ancient Grudge:
Apostle's Blessing:
Damping Sphere:
Fiery Justice:
Negate:
Path to Exile:
Stony Silence:
Surgical Extraction:
I will be listing complementary and alternate attack paths here, evetually.
Devoted Druid:
Vizier of Rememdies:
The Pod Chains:
(I don't really know what would the proper name since we don't technically run Pod, but people seem to be refering to them as Pod Chains still.)
All these chains expect you to have a Prime Speaker Vannifar on board and online.
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the one drop into a Phantasmal Image
-Copy the Exarch with the Image
-Untap Vannifar with copied Exarch trigger
-Pod the Image that copied Exarch into a Restoration Angel
-Blink the Exarch with the Angel trigger
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the Angel into a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
-Bounce a Forest and untap Vannifar
-Pod Scryb Ranger into a Renegade Rallier
-Return the Scryb Ranger into play with Rallier's Revolt trigger
-Bounce a Forest and Untap Vannifar
-Pod the Scryb Ranger into a Deceiver Exarch
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the Rallier into a Restoration Angel
-Blink the Exarch with the Angel trigger
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the Angel into a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the three-drop into a Restoration Angel
-Blink the Exarch with the Angel trigger
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the Angel into a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the four-drop into Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
-Untap Vannifar with the Conscripts trigger
-Pod the three-drop into a Restoration Angel
-Blink Conscripts with the Angel trigger
-Untap Vannifar with the Conscripts trigger
-Pod the Angel into Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
Some more specific board states from which you can Pod off from:
-Copy Deceiver Exarch with the Image
-Untap Vannifar with the copied Exarch's trigger
-Pod the copied Exarch's into Restoration Angel
-Blink the Exarch with the Angel trigger
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch's trigger
-Pod the Angel into Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
-The Archmage's/Redcap's Persist triggers
-The Archmage/Redcap returns to play
-Vannifar's activated ability resolves. Search for Zealous Conscripts
-Untap Vannifar with the Conscripts trigger
-Pod the Archmage/Archmage into Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
-Search for Seedcradle Witch (and a one-drop you might need)
-Play the Witch
-Use the Witch's activated ability and untap Vannifar
-Pod the Witch into Scryb Ranger
-Pod Scryb Ranger into a Renegade Rallier
-Return the Scryb Ranger into play with Rallier's Revolt trigger
-Bounce a Forest and untap Vannifar
-Pod the Ranger into Deceiver Exarch
-Untap Vannifar with Exarch's trigger
-Pod Ranger into Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
-Play, fetch or already have Dryad Arbor on board
-Pod Arbor into a Seedcradle Witch
-Untap Vannifar with the Witch's activated ability
-Pod the Witch into a Scryb Ranger
-Bounce a Forest and untap Vannifar
-Pod the Scryb Ranger into a Deceiver Exarch
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the Rallier into a Restoration Angel
-Blink the Exarch with the Angel trigger
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the Angel into a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
-Pod the two-drop into a Deceiver Exarch
-Untap Vannifar with the Exarch trigger
-Pod the Exarch into a Restoration Gearsmith
-Cast the Exarch and untap Vannifar with the Exarch's comes into play trigger
-Pod the Gearsmith into a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
-Combo off
For this chain to function your deck needs to have the following cards in it, but its beauty is that once you get up on a ladder you can ignore everything below it. There are two different paths and I will note when they diverge, but lets get on with the show:
0. Prime Speaker Vannifar
1. Fetch Land for a Dryad Arbor
2. Pod Arbor into a Seedcradle Witch
3. Untap Vannifar with the Witch and Pod the Witch into a Scryb Ranger
4. Untap Vannifar with the Ranger by returning a Forest and Pod the Ranger into a Bounding Krasis or a Deceiver Exarch and untap Vannifar with the ETB trigger.
5. Pod the Krasis/Exarch into a Breaching Hippocamp and untap Vannifar with the Hippocamp trigger
6. Pod the Hippocamp into a Sky Hussar or a Zealous Conscripts. The ETB trigger untaps Vannifar
7. Pod the Hussar/Conscripts into a Woodland Bellowe or a Sun Titan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8a. With the Bellower Trigger fetch a 2nd Krasis from you deck. Untap Vannifar with the Krasis trigger
9a. Pod the Krasis into a 2nd Hippocamp. Untap Vannifar with the Hippocamp trigger.
10a. Pod the Hippocamp into a Kiki-Jiki. Copy the Bellower with Kiki-Jiki's activated ability.
11a. Fetch a 3rd Krasis. Untap Kiki-Jiki with Krasis's trigger.
12a. Combo off!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8b. With the Sun Titan trigger return Exarch/Krasis to the battlefield. Untap Vannifar with the ETB trigger.
9b. Pod the Exarch/Krasis into a Restoration Angel. Blink the Sun Titan and return the Exarch/Krasis to the battlefield. Untap Vannifar with the ETB trigger.
10b. Pod the Restoration Angel into a Kiki-Jiki
11b. Combo off!
BUT! Let me warn you about Deceiver Exarch's
You have a tapped Prime Speaker Vannifar, a untapped Kiki-Jiki, Mirrorbreaker and a Deceiver Exarch in play:
-Use Kiki-Jiki's activated ability and target Exarch
-The Exarch's copy comes into play
-Target Vannifar with the Exarch's triggered ability
-Untap Vannifar
-Pod the Exarch's Copy into a Restoration Angel
-Target Kiki-Jiki with the Angel's triggered ability and Blink Kiki-Jiki
-Combo off
Now would this be important enough for it to receive its very own section? Because back in the day, yours truly, finished 9th in a PTQ because in the final round he faced against a Jund deck. We were in the third game. My opponent was holding a single mystery card. I think I had a Deceiver and a four drop on board at least. I drew a Pod. I was slightly ahead on board, but I decided to cast the Pod and Pod the four drop into a Kiki to close the match now and then. I created enough tokens to kill my opponent and then my opponent cast his Rakdos Charm. I walked right into his trap. After the match I did the math and if I had upgraded the Exarch into a Restoration Angel I would have won. Now since we do not play artifacts anymore the Charm's "Kill Us" mode is even more prevalent, since they won't be wasting it on the Birthing Pod.
Now here is my current deck list which by far is not finished.
1x Breeding Pool
1x Fire-Lit Thicket
1x Forest
1x Gavony Township
3x Grove of the Burnwillows
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Island
2x Misty Rainforest
1x Mountain
1x Plains
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
3x Windswept Heath
3x Wooded Foothills
Instant (4)
4x Chord of Calling
Enchantment (3)
3x Rhythm of the Wild
Creature (30)
3x Birds of Paradise
2x Deceiver Exarch
1x Deputy of Detention
1x Eternal Witness
1x Glen Elendra Archmage
2x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
2x Kitchen Finks
1x Knight of Autumn
1x Magus of the Moon
3x Noble Hierarch
2x Prime Speaker Vannifar
1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
1x Renegade Rallier
2x Restoration Angel
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Scryb Ranger
1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1x Sky Hussar
1x Spellskite
2x Wall of Roots
1x Avalanche Riders
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Fulminator Mage
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2x Path to Exile
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Remorseful Cleric
1x Reveillark
1x Selfless Spirit
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Prime Speaker Vannifar
2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Restoration Angel
1 Deceiver Exarch
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Seedcradle Witch
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Renegade Rallier
1 Restoration Gearsmith
1 Eternal Witness
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Spellskite
1 Torch Courier
1 Militia Bugler
1 Coiling Oracle
1 Knight of Autumn
1 Deputy of Detention
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Magus of the Moon
2 Chord of Calling
1 Eldritch Evolution
Lands
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Hanweir Battlements
1 Gavony Township
4 Windswept Heath
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
1 Avalanche Riders
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Negate
1 Path to Exile
2 Fiery Justice
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Spellskite
2 Voice of Resurgence
2 Wall of Roots
2 Renegade Rallier
2 Deceiver Exarch
1 Deputy of Detention
1 Eternal Witness
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Knight of Autumn
3 Prime Speaker Vannifar
2 Restoration Angel
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
3 Chord of Calling
2 Eldritch Evolution
Lands[23]
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Flooded Strand
2 Stomping Ground
2 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Gavony Township
2 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Forest
1 Plains
2 Rhythm of the Wild
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Knight of Autumn
3 Path to Exile
1 Remorseful Cleric
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Thragtusk
PS Original message:
" So I'm finally, after three years in exile, returning to the Modern format. Can you guess why?
So my deck is almost ready, but I need some help figuring out the mana base. All advice would be welcome."
PSS Ten points to the person who figures the reference at the beginning.
Well if you had a generic mana and a instant or a sorcery in your graveyard you could use Disciple of the Ring.
Other than that, you'd need access to red cards, Zealous Conscripts being the culprit. Trust me, me and my buddies went through every option back in the day when we tried to abuse Pod Comboes, both in Legacy (please don't ask about that) and Modern.
Although cheating is not specifically mentioned in the Judging at the Regular Rules Enforcement Level document and players do make mistakes I do find it unacceptable if a player clearly displays a pattern of cheating. You are there to make sure all the players feel that every other player is playing a fair game.
Although cheating is not specifically mentioned in the Judging at the Regular Rules Enforcement Level document and players do make mistakes I do find it unacceptable if a player clearly displays a pattern of cheating. You are there to make sure all the players feel that every other player is playing a fair game.
Back to four copies of Noble Hierarch?
I probably shouldn't be answering to rules questions at 3am.
If a token would change the zone where it is, it is exiled instead. It is not a trigger, but a replacement effect.
So, no you can't use Thelon's ability since there is nothing to repond to.
(Hint there has been only one format in past two years that I've been playing.)