MTG Salvation

I play a tap-out White list that splashes Blue and Black for key cards (Phantasmal Image, Forbidden Alchemy, Unburial Rites). Just top4'd at a LGS with it last night, played some of the popular decks (humans, tempo, wolf run).

Permission will destroy you unless you can suddenly become the beatdown and can land consistent, hard-to-kill threats. But vs Aggro you are probably ok.

Absolutely depressed this has a CMC of 4. I was really hoping for a new SGO, but it just feels too expensive for casting. Pod probably won't mind running one, though.

Seems really potent to me. I know a few people like to hold off creatures with Gideon, but landing this is going to have a continuous effect against the same creatures, and it's not going to get killed by those creatures it fights off.

For instance, Delver can equip Invisible Stalker with a pike, and win a game fairly quickly -- with this, he's going straight to the graveyard unless he has a sword. Gideon might just take a hit or two, and then leave you dead if you didn't get another answer.

What if I dropped the Disperse and 2 Dismember for 3 Gut Shots? Would that seem solid?

Since he's been standard legal, I've been playing Venser-based lists. Although I know he's not a top pick for most lists, I've been having some success running a Venser list that includes elements of Solar Flare. I don't know how competitive it is, but out of the last two months of FNM I've top 8'd four times, and top 4'd twice (we split winnings here). The two poorer showings I went 2 wins, and had mulligan troubles in at least one game lost. I've played against every "Competitive" archetype at least once (although I've played a lot of Wolf Run), and I've also seen a good amount of the "Developing Competitive" decks running around my store.

I was hoping that some of you guys might view my current list, and leave any comments or criticisms, so that I have a better idea of where I stand. And, plus, I'm sure some of you would appreciate looking at an unconventional list, for potentially getting inspiration of your own.



You'll notice it's primarily a white list, and this is for deliberate reasons.

Mana Leaks never really cut it for me -- they always struck me as too easy to play around. And, as quickly as the various aggro decks can beat a player down, I was never rewarded by hanging on to cast it.

Previously, I have had strong matchups to Wolf Run, Humans and Township tokens -- the Venser + Stonehorn combo will lock these guys out, and I can trump their removal without much trouble (o-ring their o-rings, unburial a dismembered stonehorn, spellskite eats stuff). But, UW Tempo's disruption made that plan too clumsy to play out, and RDW's ability to burn your face invalidated much of the point.

I still find that the Venser interaction is a very strong one; strong enough to continue playing against Wolf Run, Tokens and Humans. But, lifegain is crucial in this environment, and tried to find the most efficient cards for that gameplan.

Kemba's Skyguard will trade with a Delver of Secrets, Geist of Saint Traft or Chandra's Phoenix (if left on the field before the attack), and gains 2 life on ETB. If Vapor Snagged or killed, replaying or recurring via Sun Titan gives me the slightest of consolations; perhaps just enough to get another turn to stabilize. I find the Flying is also relevant against spirit tokens, and some fringe creatures. And furthermore, it's something to poke at control decks. Game 2 against Delver I'll swap Vensers/stonehorns out for Gideon and other relevant cards, although these guys stick around since I like as much lifegain as possible.

Glimmerpost serves for free lifegain. Although not a strong card, it can't be countered or snagged, and is both a target for Sun Titan and Venser. So, I just gain life, and it seems to buy me time (there have been plenty of games I've won at 5 or less life -- once taking a round against Delver at 1 on game 3). Running Glimmerpost really screws with your manabase, though, so this is another reason why I have to favor a single color, only splashing the black and blue in my deck (Disperse is somewhat serving as a singleton Doom Blade - it at least kills a token or resets a shrine, whereas the Dismember I treat like Gut Shot that also hits Hero of Bladehold and such). Of additional note is that I have to run fewer Ghost Quarters, although Wolf Run - where I find the Quarter most relevant - seldom has removal for the other function of the deck, the Venser + Stonehorn lock.

Sphere of the Suns wasn't a card I originally wanted to play as a 4-of, or even at all. I know the lifegain of Pristine Talisman is very potent, but since my deck needs fixing with its ramp, this seemed the best decision. Kemba's and Glimmerpost help to compensate for its loss.

I don't think I need to explain the uses of Sun Titan, Image or Elesh Norn here -- although I will note that the Stonehorn Dignitary and Kemba's are nice with her interaction.

Between Titans, Elesh and the Venser lock, I think I have a versatile list that can play well against many decks in the meta. And, it's really fun to play.

Again, I'd appreciate any comments or criticisms of the decklist's choices or overall strategy. I'm very interested in continuing to play this deck, and making it better where I can. Thanks!

IMO, Counterspells are just not for this deck in this environment. There are too many super-aggro decks that will punish you for not establishing a presence on the board. But, I'm not sold on cutting blue entirely -- Alchemy and Image are very potent cards.

But, I do find the concept intriguing. Let us know some results!

Quote from RanDomino

Cage is the exact opposite of interaction. If you don't have a specific answer for it, your deck does not function anymore.

Then perhaps I should make a better deck, one that doesn't rely on a single, narrow approach at winning the game.

This is how I'm reading a lot of the negative reactions from this card:

"Oh no, my deck can lose because people can interact with it. Oh no. This is so bad for a healthy gaming environment."

Personally, I think we should all chill out. We have no idea how the meta will shift, so we don't know if this card will prove entirely necessary. And in the meantime, we can also consider in what ways we can make our decks more resilient to these sort of interactions.

Yeah, my deck has a few similarities with Solar Flare -- although I was doing the Sun Titan thing with Images before INN came in. Unburial proved useful for getting back a dead Stonehorn or Sun Titan, so naturally it became a sort of Venser-Flare. More an accident, if anything. It can work really well, but it just seems to fall flat to tempo.

I have a really diverse meta, but Tempo is picking up. Since I've been having trouble, I'm now looking to beat them G1 more than anyone else.

I do think lifegain will be pretty good against these guys...and at least slightly useful against general aggro. Inquisitor Exarch is a card I've now been looking at very closely, since it's lifegain and against control you can just as easily become the beatdown. He trades with Geist of Saint Traft, and will stopping some of the bleeding from the angel token. If he gets bounced by tempo, you can play him again with the consolation of getting a little more life back. And obviously, he can be blinked by Venser.

I've been trying to find other dudes to fit into a creature-heavier list, and rediscovered Phyrexian Rager and Trinket Mage. Rager's loss of life is annoying, but the CA and pressure can be really good against creatureless control decks, and a blocker is never bad. Trinket Mage can get you the same CA, but fetching useful artifacts like Sylvok Lifestaff, and with DKA there'll be more goodies. Another creature is Peace Strider, who is an Obstinate Baloth for any colors -- doesn't seem so bad to me, when he beats Geist and leaves you barely scratched by the token.

The little guys will be bad vs Midrange like Wolf Run, but Stonehorn doesn't fail there. So I don't think that's an issue.

I think I might be finally joining the No Snapcaster and No Leak bandwagon, though. To execute this kind of plan you'll need to tap out often, and leak has been only weakening over time IMO. Maybe creatureless control can manage them, but I think we might want to stick just to Flashfreeze, etc in the sideboard.

Instead of Think Twice, Forbidden Alchemy or Desperate Ravings, I do suppose Divination is a possibility. However, there's also Tezzeret's Gambit, which might be spiffy if you could abuse the proliferation. Additionally, Ponder can let you see as many as 4 cards, which can be as potent as Alchemy.

If you don't want to cast things that Cage hoses, there are the non-green Zeniths. Since they're shuffling back into the deck, you can get their uses again without flashing back. The trouble is just drawing them again.

Now, I'd be slightly tempted to suggest we even consider a Tezzeret-based route, although there's the trouble of Ancient Grudge hating on all your artifacts. However, I do think it's something to consider to include, if not build around. Making those Cages do work on life totals seems like you get more bang for your buck.

You're getting card advantage if you're using Trinket Mages to fetch those cages - and Mage does, after all, trade with Geist of Saint Traft, making him not useless after fetching. Against aggro you can always fetch a Sylvok Lifestaff, too (assuming you have enough dudes to equip).

Midnight Haunting does get some Snap love -- what generates flying tokens? Moorland Haunt isn't terrible for it. Casting your own Hauntings can be useful too, not a terrible card to just play.

If more thoughts occur I'll pop back in.

I think this guy could top off a lifegain + creature list.

B/W/u, use Sorin or Elspeth or both, play various creatures that work with the plan of gaining life while whittling down your opponent's - like Inquisitor Exarch - and then include a singleton Reaver somewhere and go to town. If he dies, conveniently Unburial Rites operates with B/W.

The reason this deck wouldn't want Sphinx is because it's double blue, and that's your splash color.

Quote from krishnath

Personally I wouldn't mind an Aztek/Inca theme, way underrepresented in fantasy fiction.

Or Island Hopping, think Caribbean or Pacific Islands. Someone suggested in a thread way back when. It could be interesting, and it'll give use an excuse to see Merfolk again (And by extension: Kiora Atua). >.<

Ooh! I was actually thinking of island-hopping, too. Personally, I think it'd be neat to see something inspired by the Maori.

Kiora Auta would totally fit in an "Island World". And, it'd be a pretty neat excuse to have lots of awesome sea creatures. Ooh, more Merfolk! And Kevin Costner references!

And there'd be a Dehydration mechanic. If you didn't draw a card, you start getting funny effects on your end step. Also you die.

Quote from RealOG47

In addition, you might be able to abuse the ability with Venser, the Sojourner and bounce the Helvault each turn, so that your opponent wouldn't be able to get the creatures already exiled back. But overall, I don't think that either function of the card is that great. I love the card for flavor reasons, but I don't think it will see play.

I have significant doubts anyone will try to operate Helvault with Venser like that -- Venser has superior synergy with other existing removal cards, and there are also singular removals that will be just as efficient as this could probably ever be in that fashion.

I like the idea of exiling your own guys in response to removal, and playing multiples so you can just crack them open to get them back. And just having a fringe use of sometimes exiling enemy dudes in the late game. Not bad for all-in-one-card. I'm thinking control mirror.

The INN lands aren't too estranged from the Ravnica utility lands. Some of the colors are moved around, though -- Orzhov land is like Stensia Bloodhall, Dimir is like Drownyard, Rage Pit is like Wolf Run, City Tree is like Moorland Haunt, and Simic land is like Gavony.

Other 5 RAV utilities: Azorious, which prevents damage from a source. Boros, which gives a guy Doublestrike. Golgari, which is a manland based on creatures in your GY. Izzet exiles the top card of your library, and lets you play it if it's instant or sorcery. And the Rakdos land says players discard.

If I had to liken the B/W land to any of them, I'd say it's like the Boros land.

If I had to guess what's coming, we may have a land associated with discard, a land associated with free-casting or exiling spells (or maybe it's got flashback related whatsits), something related to damage and, hey, maybe another manland -- or something associated with creature-in-GY count.

Quote from Ryofu

I am hoping for an egyptian themed block. A plane filled with pyramids, mummies, oasis etc

And reprints of Desert and Camel!

A little more seriously, I do think an Egyptian theme could potentially give a lot of material we haven't seen too much of. Although, I'd appreciate anything resembling fresh, at this point. I like new things.