Hey guys. I'm glad I found this thread. I've also been brewing soulherder and like some of its interactions. First off, having soulherder on board, then casting reflector mage bounces 1 dude. EOT, blink reflector mage and bounce another dude, soulherder gets bigger. Pass turn.
Opponent cant cast either guy that was bounced, pass back.
Untap, swing and if you have anyone else on board you can blink them for value. Maybe a watcher for tomorrow or coiling Oracle? Pass turn.
They cast 1-2 guys that were bounced unless they want to do anything else? Either way having a constant EOT bounce their dude and they cant cast it for a turn is a lot of tempo, I guess if they are playing creatures it is.
A downside, soulherder is a 1/1 to start, then turns into a 2/2 eot if you have someone to blink that same turn. He dies easy to a lot of things so holding him back wastes a lot of time and hes not really a finisher as he is an engine coupled with whatever other creature is in play.
So this is where I'm stuck? How to close out a fair game. Flickerwisp tricks also seem nice but you would have to aether vial him into play, but that clogs up your 3cmc slot. I'm always cool jamming tarmogoyf in any deck but I doubt a creature heavy build with path to exile could grow him big enough.
Blade splicer is nice because you end up with a bunch of 3/3 bodies but you have to put in work to make them.
I'll definitely keep brewing and post any new ideas?
I do like the giver of ruins for protection. Also unsettled mariner and thalia could add up to slowing down the opponents.
I checked back to see if it has been brought up and it hasn't so what's y'alls opinion on growth chamber guardian
I've been a long time Jund and B/G/x player and also play Zoo where I tested guardian and think it can be great in Jund. In top deck mode, which happens a lot in Jund, you can chain them back to back to back 4/4s.
My usual list but I cut on confidants, scooze, and BBE for the set of guardians. The 1 nihil spellbomb can easily be anything else.
I liked playing guardians in zoo and know how good it can be in Jund. I'm definitely gunna try this list, as well as a Junk list with lingering souls and path for white.
I went 3-1-1 last FNM with this list. I arrived a little late so I couldn't find a couple of my SB cards and I added a 3rd stomping ground instead of the 2nd raging ravine by mistake. Otherwise I liked the switch between gruul spellbreaker over steel leaf champion, i think the haste and trample mattered, although i would still like 1-2 champions.
R1 beat a G/W tron brew 2-1 after losing g1 to t3 karn. Damping sphere and gaddock teeg out the side was really good to lock out g2. BBE hitting another creature twice was enough to take out g3.
R2 I drew g3 against a really good U/W control player. We had 2 minutes after I took g2. I kept applying pressure and he kept having answers until time ran out and we only had 2 minutes to play g3. Spellbreaker and BBE were good at applying pressure.
R3 1-2 loss to u/r phoenix.
I took g1 off a BBE into bolt when my opponent was at 5.funny that turn I top decked a bolt, had a BBE in hand and only 4 mana so I needed to cascade into another bolt or spellbreaker. G2 he had thing, i pathed it, he played another thing, into 3rd thing and flipped both turn 4. G3 was closer but he had the abrade for damping sphere, I had the path for his thing, but my scooze was too late to eat his Phoenix in the yard and he swung with them a few turn for the win.
I sided in RIP, damping sphere x2, my 4th path, and a grafdigger's cage. Knowing they have abrade in the side I thought what enchantment I can bring in and thought cindervines but not sure if that would be a good hoser or something they would disregard and still get massive amounts of power on the board.
R4 2-0 against another u/w control player. He also had a lot of answers and took a long time to die, and he did definitely die to a bunch of growth chamber guardians.
R5 2-1 against merfolk. I took g1 off timely removal and chaining growth chamber guardians. Lost g2 to tempo, spreading seas, and island walk. G3 garruk made a bunch of 3/3 beasts along with nacatle, and guardians and eventually won after I pathed his master of waves.
The take home about the deck:
I like having 8 haste creatures to come in after I play a few early guys and apply pressure. After I pump a growth chamber guardian I usually feel like I'm in a good spot, especially if I have a creature or two in play. Spellbreaker is really good but topping off with 4/4 still leaves room to be out classed by opponents bigger creatures so I wanna try fitting in 1-2 steel leaf champions or rhythm of the wild.
My original plan was to play 3 garruks to ultimate and close the game with a big swing the turn after he comes in but that never happened. I still wouldn't mind 1 but im thinking of adding in the 4cmc elspeth for the +3/+3 and flying evasion. Swinging 6 or 7 with a nacatle, spellbreaker, or guardian feels good.
Knight of autumn is fine as a 2 of for utility. And I like having 5 exalted guys for more pump, utility, and mana acceleration.
Domri hardly saw play and I guess is fine as a 1 of?
Either way I liked the deck, especially growth chamber guardian and gruul spellbreaker, both really good applying pressure. I'll test elspeth, knight errant to try and get more evasion and reach.
I played a bunch of games with my zoo list I posted a couple posted above and I work out pretty good. growth chamber guardian did a lot of work. I was hardly underwhelmed by it. The ability to keep more threats coming by making him bigger was key to numerous wins. Some games I just had lots of good stuff in my hand that I would wait 2-3 turns before I pumped him and kept applying pressure.
I played a whir thopter prison deck that dominic Harvey posted on starcity.com and took it 3-0.
I beat izzet Phoenix 3-1 just out pressuring and racing them. Timely bolt/path also helped.
Adjustments I would make are -1 thalia for +1 knight of autumn for more utility.
Also steel leaf champion is nice, I like the card but felt like gruul spellbreaker will be better. I liked the haste ability off BBE and knowing I have potentially 4 more dudes with haste coming made the deck seem faster. Maybe the clean swap spellbreaker for steel leaf is what I'll test this next FNM.
Last change is -1 gavony for +1 ravine to hit more manlands.
My SB is still in the works but I'll post after I get more results.
I feel like growth chamber guardian can be a good 2 drop for zoo because they can multiply for a wider board state, refill your hand, on top of what ever card you top deck.
Garruk is a finisher that tries to close the game the turn after he comes into play.
Bloodbraid helps get that wide board state more consistently compared to collected company. I hate whiffing off a company.
And steel leaf is the choice 3 drop fatty. He can get in with a hit or two because of its evasion ability, has 8 trample damage off a garruk ultimate, and doesn't die to bolt.
I’ve been playing a few different variations of zoo for a while and want to share this list I haven’t seen anywhere yet.
First off I’ve played bushwhacker, 8 whack, and pelt/devil bushwhacker variations and don’t care too much about them cuz if you don’t have a good hand or good early game, I just feel out classed and out sized.
I’ve also played the average zoo list but with a blue splash for spell quellers and really like this deck. I see @zulander plays a similar list but instead of blue, you splash black and that seems really good. I’ll have to try your list and see how it runs.
The main zoo list I wanted to talk about is similar to an Aggro coco list but I don’t use coco, instead I use Eldritch Evolution. The key card to make this deck into an Aggro deck is wilt leaf liege. It pretty much makes everything at least a 4/4, voice tokens and KotR are usually 6/6 or more easily.
Renegade rallier is no joke cuz it usually nets another creature and is a 5/4. Im trying out conclave guildmage for its tap/+G: all creatures get trample to push through damage.
Since I’m running evolution I have a short list of one of’s to tutor for. If I have a noble, evolution, and some other beat stick in my hand I like T2 evolutioning for 3cmc Thalia because she slows down the tempo of my opponents game if they are on lots of nonbasics.
The way I see it, I can look at the top card with search for azcanta the decide to keep it or mill it. Then dark confidant triggers and I look at the top card again, lose life and draw it.
Also I’m wondering if I can reverse the triggers the next turn with confidant giving me an unknown card first with the life loss, then looking at the next card with search and having the decision to mill before my draw step.
Is this correct, having the opportunity to chose which trigger goes first each turn?
I’m not sure in what order these cards stack or if the order can change from turn to turn, but if dark confidant and search for azcanta are in play, can someone explain what happens?
The sideboard are just cards I’m considering and not actually a SB. I’ve mainly just tested the MB.
So blade splicer and huntmaster are the home brew cards that have worked out well enough to win a lot of match ups. Evolutioning, or blinking and copying either with felidar or Saheeli usually gives me enough of a board presence to stabilize, play (or bluff) the aggro route, and make the opponent have to deal with the board that I can continue to find my combo. Huntmaster can be so good to stabilize, especially if he flips a few times.
I haven’t been impressed my sun Titan much, as he seems more of a “win more” card. I wouldn’t mind replacing him with a solid 5 drop so I can evolution into it easier from a 3 drop on turn 3. Maybe keranos would be nice???
All in all I definitely need a lot more reps with this deck as I have a lot of deck I play, but don’t play too often.
Also I don’t own any lotus cobra, nor played with her so I can’t weight in on that topic.
Last I recall an SCG or GP player on camera right after Jace was unbanned, playing Jace to dig deep to find the combo. I believe the were in the top 16 but not sure if they made top 8. Thoughts on Jace tmS???
Hey guys! Sorry haven't posted this week, been a bit hectic with some work. Anyways here's the Queller Zoo list I've been playing this week to a 6-1 record. The only loss was to Affinity because of drawing forest/sacred foundry while having a bunch of lightning helix in hand and no creatures. That was an awkward game lol.
Spell Queller has been great in some matchups, single handedly beating two burn players. Also moving the dromoka's to the main has been great. I've only hit BBE into Queller twice, but never felt like it sucked as much as it sounds like it would.
I haven’t posted or read mtgsalvation in quite a long time and decided to get back into it.
@zulander
I’ve played numerous zoo lists from Naya company, to Eldritch Evolution/wilt leaf liege, to bushwacker and I feel like I settled on a list similar to yours. I got the idea from a video Gabriel Nassif played with, what he called “Bant Pile” pretty much zoo with spell queller, 4 drop elspeth, and a singleton bant charm.
I like the aggro/zoo aspect of it backed by quellers but I added a little more blue with counters and Nissa.
I don’t own any horizon canopy otherwise it would be included. I like having counters along with quellers cuz it allows me to play a small control role, and a counter here and there go a long way to protecting my guys or preventing the road block creature so I can close out the game faster.
Nissa steward of elements does a lot of work in this deck. She smooths our draws, lets me ramp or catch up on lands by playing 2 a turn, or cheats into play a creature. If you splash blue then definitely give her a try. Also if the game goes long she can swing for 10 in the air, either by plusing a bunch of times, or just cast her for 8, usually for the win...
One main issue is sequencing and fetching the right lands to cast all my spells, but once you get a few games in it’s not too difficult.
Courser is a good card, sifts through your deck faster and helps hit your land drops. I also like playing courser in other decks but it’s definitely not an aggressive card. It should be backed by aggressive cards to take advantage of the filtering. I play courser in a lot of other decks, my favorite is a BUG midrange list.
I have this BUG list I’ve played about 10 games with and enjoy it a lot, but DO admit it can be difficult to sequence. Depending on what you have in play, you can have the top 3-6 cards of your library as an extension of your hand so there are a lot of decision making and future planning to set up the right topdeck, leave a land on top, or a creature 2nd-3rd from the top, or whether you should activate a PW or swing first. I still haven’t gotten that down yet but I would hope someone else could give it a try and see how complex the lines and decision making is.
I haven’t come up with a SB plan yet as I’ve only tested the MB. The cards listed in SB are just thoughts and not real.
Some adjustments I’m thinking of making are adding scavenging ooze x2 over the tireless tracker x2 to lower the curve and gain a little more life. I noticed I’m dealing myself a lot of damage from lands and confidant flips. I like tracker in the long games because of the value and extra card draw, as I can easily know what I will draw, but noticed tracker is a little clunky at 3cmc and 2 to draw the card. I wouldn’t mind a 1 of though. Also cutting 1x dark confidant for 1x snapcaster mage. I’d like maybe 1 more snap but not sure what to cut.
Hey JUND players, what’s up? I haven’t posted for a while but was wondering y’all opinions on the new M19 black legend.
Isareth the awakener
1BB. 3/3 deathtouch
Those stats seem good as is, although she dies to bolt. Her attacking ability is nuts, recurring a dude by paying X colorless mana for them. It might not seem good cuz you have to attack but cuz she has deathtouch she might just go unblocked if the opponent doesn’t want to trade there bigger guy to kill her, or 2-3 for 1 if they want to trade numerous guys to kill her. She replaces herself with a recurred creature when she swings if she dies in combat and you have someone in the GY to recur.
If your running grim flayer you might be more inclined to put creatures in the GY so she can bring them back and still sculpt your draw step.
Discarding creatures to Liliana doesn’t seem that bad with her in play as well.
She might be good in JUND, or maybe a different kind of midrange list but i do think she is modern playable. Especially in humans, well cuz she’s a human.
I’m just trying to bring some awareness and consideration to her cuz I checked the last few pages and hadn’t seen any posts about her.
Yeah, playing Eldrazi technically makes it a 4 color deck. I like the BG/x style but curving into TKS and abusing displacer activations is really good.
Opponent cant cast either guy that was bounced, pass back.
Untap, swing and if you have anyone else on board you can blink them for value. Maybe a watcher for tomorrow or coiling Oracle? Pass turn.
They cast 1-2 guys that were bounced unless they want to do anything else? Either way having a constant EOT bounce their dude and they cant cast it for a turn is a lot of tempo, I guess if they are playing creatures it is.
A downside, soulherder is a 1/1 to start, then turns into a 2/2 eot if you have someone to blink that same turn. He dies easy to a lot of things so holding him back wastes a lot of time and hes not really a finisher as he is an engine coupled with whatever other creature is in play.
So this is where I'm stuck? How to close out a fair game. Flickerwisp tricks also seem nice but you would have to aether vial him into play, but that clogs up your 3cmc slot. I'm always cool jamming tarmogoyf in any deck but I doubt a creature heavy build with path to exile could grow him big enough.
Blade splicer is nice because you end up with a bunch of 3/3 bodies but you have to put in work to make them.
I'll definitely keep brewing and post any new ideas?
I do like the giver of ruins for protection. Also unsettled mariner and thalia could add up to slowing down the opponents.
I've been a long time Jund and B/G/x player and also play Zoo where I tested guardian and think it can be great in Jund. In top deck mode, which happens a lot in Jund, you can chain them back to back to back 4/4s.
Creatures:15
2 Dark Confidant
4 Growth-Chamber Guardian
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Bloodbraid Elf
Spells:22
3 Fatal Push
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Thoughtseize
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Assassin's Trophy
2 Kolaghan's Command
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Forest
2 Overgrown Tomb
3 Raging Ravine
1 Stomping Ground
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wooded Foothills
My usual list but I cut on confidants, scooze, and BBE for the set of guardians. The 1 nihil spellbomb can easily be anything else.
I liked playing guardians in zoo and know how good it can be in Jund. I'm definitely gunna try this list, as well as a Junk list with lingering souls and path for white.
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Growth-Chamber Guardian
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Voice of Resurgence
4 Gruul Spellbreaker
2 Knight of Autumn
4 Bloodbraid Elf
Spells:10
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
1 Domri Rade
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Arid Mesa
3 Forest
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Plains
1 Raging Ravine
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Stomping Ground
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Knight of Autumn
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Path to Exile
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Damping Sphere
1 Dromoka's Command
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
I went 3-1-1 last FNM with this list. I arrived a little late so I couldn't find a couple of my SB cards and I added a 3rd stomping ground instead of the 2nd raging ravine by mistake. Otherwise I liked the switch between gruul spellbreaker over steel leaf champion, i think the haste and trample mattered, although i would still like 1-2 champions.
R1 beat a G/W tron brew 2-1 after losing g1 to t3 karn. Damping sphere and gaddock teeg out the side was really good to lock out g2. BBE hitting another creature twice was enough to take out g3.
R2 I drew g3 against a really good U/W control player. We had 2 minutes after I took g2. I kept applying pressure and he kept having answers until time ran out and we only had 2 minutes to play g3. Spellbreaker and BBE were good at applying pressure.
R3 1-2 loss to u/r phoenix.
I took g1 off a BBE into bolt when my opponent was at 5.funny that turn I top decked a bolt, had a BBE in hand and only 4 mana so I needed to cascade into another bolt or spellbreaker. G2 he had thing, i pathed it, he played another thing, into 3rd thing and flipped both turn 4. G3 was closer but he had the abrade for damping sphere, I had the path for his thing, but my scooze was too late to eat his Phoenix in the yard and he swung with them a few turn for the win.
I sided in RIP, damping sphere x2, my 4th path, and a grafdigger's cage. Knowing they have abrade in the side I thought what enchantment I can bring in and thought cindervines but not sure if that would be a good hoser or something they would disregard and still get massive amounts of power on the board.
R4 2-0 against another u/w control player. He also had a lot of answers and took a long time to die, and he did definitely die to a bunch of growth chamber guardians.
R5 2-1 against merfolk. I took g1 off timely removal and chaining growth chamber guardians. Lost g2 to tempo, spreading seas, and island walk. G3 garruk made a bunch of 3/3 beasts along with nacatle, and guardians and eventually won after I pathed his master of waves.
The take home about the deck:
I like having 8 haste creatures to come in after I play a few early guys and apply pressure. After I pump a growth chamber guardian I usually feel like I'm in a good spot, especially if I have a creature or two in play. Spellbreaker is really good but topping off with 4/4 still leaves room to be out classed by opponents bigger creatures so I wanna try fitting in 1-2 steel leaf champions or rhythm of the wild.
My original plan was to play 3 garruks to ultimate and close the game with a big swing the turn after he comes in but that never happened. I still wouldn't mind 1 but im thinking of adding in the 4cmc elspeth for the +3/+3 and flying evasion. Swinging 6 or 7 with a nacatle, spellbreaker, or guardian feels good.
Knight of autumn is fine as a 2 of for utility. And I like having 5 exalted guys for more pump, utility, and mana acceleration.
Domri hardly saw play and I guess is fine as a 1 of?
Either way I liked the deck, especially growth chamber guardian and gruul spellbreaker, both really good applying pressure. I'll test elspeth, knight errant to try and get more evasion and reach.
I played a whir thopter prison deck that dominic Harvey posted on starcity.com and took it 3-0.
I beat izzet Phoenix 3-1 just out pressuring and racing them. Timely bolt/path also helped.
Adjustments I would make are -1 thalia for +1 knight of autumn for more utility.
Also steel leaf champion is nice, I like the card but felt like gruul spellbreaker will be better. I liked the haste ability off BBE and knowing I have potentially 4 more dudes with haste coming made the deck seem faster. Maybe the clean swap spellbreaker for steel leaf is what I'll test this next FNM.
Last change is -1 gavony for +1 ravine to hit more manlands.
My SB is still in the works but I'll post after I get more results.
I feel like growth chamber guardian can be a good 2 drop for zoo because they can multiply for a wider board state, refill your hand, on top of what ever card you top deck.
Garruk is a finisher that tries to close the game the turn after he comes into play.
Bloodbraid helps get that wide board state more consistently compared to collected company. I hate whiffing off a company.
And steel leaf is the choice 3 drop fatty. He can get in with a hit or two because of its evasion ability, has 8 trample damage off a garruk ultimate, and doesn't die to bolt.
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Growth-Chamber Guardian
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Voice of Resurgence
1 Knight of Autumn
4 Steel Leaf Champion
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
1 Domri Rade
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
Lands:22
2 Arid Mesa
3 Forest
1 Gavony Township
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Plains
1 Raging Ravine
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
2 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
First off I’ve played bushwhacker, 8 whack, and pelt/devil bushwhacker variations and don’t care too much about them cuz if you don’t have a good hand or good early game, I just feel out classed and out sized.
I’ve also played the average zoo list but with a blue splash for spell quellers and really like this deck. I see @zulander plays a similar list but instead of blue, you splash black and that seems really good. I’ll have to try your list and see how it runs.
The main zoo list I wanted to talk about is similar to an Aggro coco list but I don’t use coco, instead I use Eldritch Evolution. The key card to make this deck into an Aggro deck is wilt leaf liege. It pretty much makes everything at least a 4/4, voice tokens and KotR are usually 6/6 or more easily.
Renegade rallier is no joke cuz it usually nets another creature and is a 5/4. Im trying out conclave guildmage for its tap/+G: all creatures get trample to push through damage.
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Wild Nacatl
1 Conclave Guildmage
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Knight of Autumn
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Renegade Rallier
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
Spells:11
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
1 Domri Rade
3 Eldritch Evolution
1 Arlinn Kord
2 Arid Mesa
2 Forest
1 Gavony Township
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Plains
1 Raging Ravine
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
1 Sunpetal Grove
2 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
Since I’m running evolution I have a short list of one of’s to tutor for. If I have a noble, evolution, and some other beat stick in my hand I like T2 evolutioning for 3cmc Thalia because she slows down the tempo of my opponents game if they are on lots of nonbasics.
Also I’m wondering if I can reverse the triggers the next turn with confidant giving me an unknown card first with the life loss, then looking at the next card with search and having the decision to mill before my draw step.
Is this correct, having the opportunity to chose which trigger goes first each turn?
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Noble Hierarch
4 Coiling Oracle
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Blade Splicer
3 Renegade Rallier
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Felidar Guardian
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Sun Titan
Spells:12
4 Oath of Nissa
4 Eldritch Evolution
4 Saheeli Rai
2 Breeding Pool
3 Forest
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Obstinate Baloth
1 Restoration Angel
1 Angel of Sanctions
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Keranos, God of Storms
The sideboard are just cards I’m considering and not actually a SB. I’ve mainly just tested the MB.
So blade splicer and huntmaster are the home brew cards that have worked out well enough to win a lot of match ups. Evolutioning, or blinking and copying either with felidar or Saheeli usually gives me enough of a board presence to stabilize, play (or bluff) the aggro route, and make the opponent have to deal with the board that I can continue to find my combo. Huntmaster can be so good to stabilize, especially if he flips a few times.
I haven’t been impressed my sun Titan much, as he seems more of a “win more” card. I wouldn’t mind replacing him with a solid 5 drop so I can evolution into it easier from a 3 drop on turn 3. Maybe keranos would be nice???
All in all I definitely need a lot more reps with this deck as I have a lot of deck I play, but don’t play too often.
Also I don’t own any lotus cobra, nor played with her so I can’t weight in on that topic.
Last I recall an SCG or GP player on camera right after Jace was unbanned, playing Jace to dig deep to find the combo. I believe the were in the top 16 but not sure if they made top 8. Thoughts on Jace tmS???
I haven’t posted or read mtgsalvation in quite a long time and decided to get back into it.
@zulander
I’ve played numerous zoo lists from Naya company, to Eldritch Evolution/wilt leaf liege, to bushwacker and I feel like I settled on a list similar to yours. I got the idea from a video Gabriel Nassif played with, what he called “Bant Pile” pretty much zoo with spell queller, 4 drop elspeth, and a singleton bant charm.
I like the aggro/zoo aspect of it backed by quellers but I added a little more blue with counters and Nissa.
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Spell Queller
Spells:14
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
3 Mana Leak
2 Nissa, Steward of Elements
1 Unified Will
1 Breeding Pool
2 Forest
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Kessig Wolf Run
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
I don’t own any horizon canopy otherwise it would be included. I like having counters along with quellers cuz it allows me to play a small control role, and a counter here and there go a long way to protecting my guys or preventing the road block creature so I can close out the game faster.
Nissa steward of elements does a lot of work in this deck. She smooths our draws, lets me ramp or catch up on lands by playing 2 a turn, or cheats into play a creature. If you splash blue then definitely give her a try. Also if the game goes long she can swing for 10 in the air, either by plusing a bunch of times, or just cast her for 8, usually for the win...
One main issue is sequencing and fetching the right lands to cast all my spells, but once you get a few games in it’s not too difficult.
I haven’t come up with a SB plan yet as I’ve only tested the MB. The cards listed in SB are just thoughts and not real.
Some adjustments I’m thinking of making are adding scavenging ooze x2 over the tireless tracker x2 to lower the curve and gain a little more life. I noticed I’m dealing myself a lot of damage from lands and confidant flips. I like tracker in the long games because of the value and extra card draw, as I can easily know what I will draw, but noticed tracker is a little clunky at 3cmc and 2 to draw the card. I wouldn’t mind a 1 of though. Also cutting 1x dark confidant for 1x snapcaster mage. I’d like maybe 1 more snap but not sure what to cut.
3 Dark Confidant
3 Grim Flayer
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Courser of Kruphix
2 Tireless Tracker
Spells:23
3 Fatal Push
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Serum Visions
3 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Cast Down
2 Nissa, Steward of Elements
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Breeding Pool
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Drowned Catacomb
2 Forest
2 Hissing Quagmire
1 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Watery Grave
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Hostage Taker
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Thoughtseize
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Collective Brutality
1 Damping Sphere
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1 Flaying Tendrils
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Damnation
Isareth the awakener
1BB. 3/3 deathtouch
Those stats seem good as is, although she dies to bolt. Her attacking ability is nuts, recurring a dude by paying X colorless mana for them. It might not seem good cuz you have to attack but cuz she has deathtouch she might just go unblocked if the opponent doesn’t want to trade there bigger guy to kill her, or 2-3 for 1 if they want to trade numerous guys to kill her. She replaces herself with a recurred creature when she swings if she dies in combat and you have someone in the GY to recur.
If your running grim flayer you might be more inclined to put creatures in the GY so she can bring them back and still sculpt your draw step.
Discarding creatures to Liliana doesn’t seem that bad with her in play as well.
She might be good in JUND, or maybe a different kind of midrange list but i do think she is modern playable. Especially in humans, well cuz she’s a human.
I’m just trying to bring some awareness and consideration to her cuz I checked the last few pages and hadn’t seen any posts about her.