Death's Shadow is completely amazing. With Teferi out I have EOT teachings for shadow and play it swing for win on my turn when I was about to die. It is also disgusting against aggro. I got 4 of them out of the quarter bin at my hobby store >< I don't know why people think it's bad. I think that people just think you have to kill yourself to play him or use some crappy combo like Varolz. He's just an insanely efficient beater in the right situation.
Porphyry Nodes doesn't seem too bad either but I don't think it has a home.
Melanclock, your list is very light on removal, I'd play some more main. Maybe 3 Lightning Bolt and 2 Electrolyze? How about some Izzet Charms since they double as removal and early counters?
Yeah I think that the removal in my sideboard could be brought into the mainboard. The idea was to run 4 lightning bolts with different names. I wouldn't run electrolyze without those burn spells at the same time so it was cut when I moved the removal to the board to make space. I hate izzet charm. I would much rather just run another shock/lightning bolt variant since it is horrible as a counterspell.
I'd also suggest Counterflux at least in the board for combo. I like the 1 maindecked Negate, how has that been working for you?
Maybe I'm just bad but I don't understand why counterflux is useful. It seems like a uncounterable cancel. Cascade and counter wars are the only times there are multiple things to counter on the stack I can think of outside of the tricky baits you could do with double negative. I haven't used the negate very much. It just seemed like part of the core of the permission shell that INS has presented.
I don't like Desperate Ravings, what about 3-4 Think Twice instead? I don't like the random discard at all.
I think that DR vs TT is personal preference. The extra risk gives you a chance to bin stuff for value. I definitely think either is part of the core of any permission deck in this format.
Of all the Phoenixes, I think I like Shard Phoenix the best. I don't think we'd need more than 1 copy since we can Gifts for it. How about 1 Shard Phoenix and 1 Worm Harvest main?
If I recall correctly, Shard Phoenix has had the most success in control historically. I think all of the phoenixes are awesome. Shard gives us a reusable sweeper and is slightly cheaper to recur than firewing. The upside of firewing is that you can grab it at instant speed. It also synergizes with desolate lighthouse to be kind of like a whispers of the muse that can punch people in the face. I also want to find space for magma phoenix. I think it would be sweet to gifts for all the phoenixes even though it would be pretty slow.
I think the sideboard needs more redundancy so you can get the effect you want with Gifts. Alternatively, I want to experiment with 1 Eternal Witness and 1 Noxious Revival main to guarantee a particular card with Gifts.
Eternal Witness would be nice if we could find the space. It has synergy with cryptic command and gifts. It also gives us a little bit more beats to make up for the bad manlands. I don't like Noxious Revival too much. I think it might be a crutch and if I feel myself needing it I probably just messed up. I agree with the redundancy but it's really hard with limited space. For one effect to be more redundant another has to be less redundant. I think it all comes down to what you expect you need.
Nonbasic land hate might be a good addition to the sideboard. Sowing Salt in particular is nasty against tron. Detritivore seems like it can run away with games. Space is an issue though.
One effect I badly need to be more redundant is lifegain. I was considering finks because that seems like the only option left without adding another color. There's healing leaves but that just seems bad.
Space seems tight and there are some things I can't decide whether they should be in the main or the side. I cut one ravings and it felt bad. I want all the phoenixes in the main but I don't know what to move over.
Also the manabase is probably not too great. I don't really like Raging Ravine but I definitely want to play manlands. Maybe one of the mono colored ones instead. I do like the ability to play storage lands though.
Nourish seems really weak but I think we need some lifegain in the 75.
Another thing I was thinking about is that shadow of doubt seems sweet but I rarely hit anything with it and it is completely blank against some decks. It is also somewhat hard to cast without black. I kind of want to move it to the sideboard but can't decide.
We have maindeck responses to enchantment based graveyard hate in EE. We could also use it to answer Tormod's crypt. For DRS oust is an additional answer. If we ran black I would consider additional 1 mana removal maindeck just because I have a vendetta against DRS. I really don't want to play path turn 1 on a 1 drop. DRS and RIP don't blank Gifts completely even though they hurt. We might be able to save a key card with memory's journey and gifts for it back after we've dealt with the hate but I'm not sure if that's a good play. If we play carefully we shouldn't just fold to graveyard hate even in the mainboard.
Grave hate is still a good way to attack us. We lose a lot of tempo answering 1 CMC for 3 mana or 2 CMC for 4 with EE. It can also hurt us by making us hold back our engine so that we don't lose it. Usually Jund or Junk will also attack from other directions too with discard, board pressure, and their own engines.
Ultimately I don't think the weakness to grave hate is a flaw in the deck. I think it is just a good way to attack us and we should keep in mind our options when defending at that angle. If they only attack us from the grave then we have the game in the bag. They need to do more than that.
One good substitute is playing around counterspells Also if you have a lot of card advantage in your deck you will be able to grind out control matchups even if they counter everything
I think that shadow of doubt could be run in the mainboard in the flex spots depending on what you think you'll be facing. Also maybe Nyxathid could work as a man-plan from the sideboard.
The green splash seems really good. I really like the added flexibility of abrupt decay and the ability to board in answers to leyline. Worm harvest and Life from the loam might be interesting here or it might be horrible and dilute the lock.
personally if i'd been in a heavy pod meta i'd maindeck 1rakdos charm it's the swiss knife against pod , can break pod , exile grave and if the player puts enough tokens you can kill with , also fetchable with mystical teachings
I was testing this deck and had a problem with junk. DRS just completely annihilates this strategy. I was thinking about something like aetherling main deck. It probably gets better after sideboard but it just sucks dealing with graveyard hate game 1 without an alternate plan in the mainboard.
I would start over from the beginning. What exactly is your deck trying to do? What is your plan? Make sure all of the cards in your deck help you to achieve that plan.
How does that deck react to not having all the right pieces in hand? This is an engine combo deck which needs a critical mass of land enchants and untap effects to go off. I feel like without gifts, you don't necessarily hit that point where you combo off.
If you aren't running gifts you have to dig for the pieces. That also means you have to mulligan for the pieces you can't dig for (probably the auras since they are not instants or sorceries)
Death's Shadow is completely amazing. With Teferi out I have EOT teachings for shadow and play it swing for win on my turn when I was about to die. It is also disgusting against aggro. I got 4 of them out of the quarter bin at my hobby store >< I don't know why people think it's bad. I think that people just think you have to kill yourself to play him or use some crappy combo like Varolz. He's just an insanely efficient beater in the right situation.
Porphyry Nodes doesn't seem too bad either but I don't think it has a home.
Yeah I think that the removal in my sideboard could be brought into the mainboard. The idea was to run 4 lightning bolts with different names. I wouldn't run electrolyze without those burn spells at the same time so it was cut when I moved the removal to the board to make space. I hate izzet charm. I would much rather just run another shock/lightning bolt variant since it is horrible as a counterspell.
Maybe I'm just bad but I don't understand why counterflux is useful. It seems like a uncounterable cancel. Cascade and counter wars are the only times there are multiple things to counter on the stack I can think of outside of the tricky baits you could do with double negative. I haven't used the negate very much. It just seemed like part of the core of the permission shell that INS has presented.
I think that DR vs TT is personal preference. The extra risk gives you a chance to bin stuff for value. I definitely think either is part of the core of any permission deck in this format.
If I recall correctly, Shard Phoenix has had the most success in control historically. I think all of the phoenixes are awesome. Shard gives us a reusable sweeper and is slightly cheaper to recur than firewing. The upside of firewing is that you can grab it at instant speed. It also synergizes with desolate lighthouse to be kind of like a whispers of the muse that can punch people in the face. I also want to find space for magma phoenix. I think it would be sweet to gifts for all the phoenixes even though it would be pretty slow.
Eternal Witness would be nice if we could find the space. It has synergy with cryptic command and gifts. It also gives us a little bit more beats to make up for the bad manlands. I don't like Noxious Revival too much. I think it might be a crutch and if I feel myself needing it I probably just messed up. I agree with the redundancy but it's really hard with limited space. For one effect to be more redundant another has to be less redundant. I think it all comes down to what you expect you need.
Nonbasic land hate might be a good addition to the sideboard. Sowing Salt in particular is nasty against tron. Detritivore seems like it can run away with games. Space is an issue though.
One effect I badly need to be more redundant is lifegain. I was considering finks because that seems like the only option left without adding another color. There's healing leaves but that just seems bad.
4 spell snare
4 rune snag
4 shadow of doubt
4 cryptic command
1 Life From The Loam
1 Oona's Grace
4 Gifts Ungiven
3 Desperate Ravings
1 Negate
2 Voidslime
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Flame Jab
Creatures
2 Firewing Phoenix
Lands
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Academy Ruins
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Island
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Treetop Village
1 Forest
2 Steam Vents
2 Breeding Pool
3 Flood Grove
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Fungal Reaches
2 Raging Ravine
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Memory's Journey
1 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Nature's Claim
1 Rending Vines
1 Firespout
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Shard Phoenix
1 Worm Harvest
1 Magma Spray
1 Dead/Gone
1 Nourish
Space seems tight and there are some things I can't decide whether they should be in the main or the side. I cut one ravings and it felt bad. I want all the phoenixes in the main but I don't know what to move over.
Also the manabase is probably not too great. I don't really like Raging Ravine but I definitely want to play manlands. Maybe one of the mono colored ones instead. I do like the ability to play storage lands though.
Nourish seems really weak but I think we need some lifegain in the 75.
Another thing I was thinking about is that shadow of doubt seems sweet but I rarely hit anything with it and it is completely blank against some decks. It is also somewhat hard to cast without black. I kind of want to move it to the sideboard but can't decide.
Grave hate is still a good way to attack us. We lose a lot of tempo answering 1 CMC for 3 mana or 2 CMC for 4 with EE. It can also hurt us by making us hold back our engine so that we don't lose it. Usually Jund or Junk will also attack from other directions too with discard, board pressure, and their own engines.
Ultimately I don't think the weakness to grave hate is a flaw in the deck. I think it is just a good way to attack us and we should keep in mind our options when defending at that angle. If they only attack us from the grave then we have the game in the bag. They need to do more than that.
I think that shadow of doubt could be run in the mainboard in the flex spots depending on what you think you'll be facing. Also maybe Nyxathid could work as a man-plan from the sideboard.
The green splash seems really good. I really like the added flexibility of abrupt decay and the ability to board in answers to leyline. Worm harvest and Life from the loam might be interesting here or it might be horrible and dilute the lock.
You could also run shadow of doubt for a sweet 2 for 1
If you aren't running gifts you have to dig for the pieces. That also means you have to mulligan for the pieces you can't dig for (probably the auras since they are not instants or sorceries)