I started not playing Titan long ago. Even when casted on turn 3, it sometimes was too slow as decks were comboing off on turn 4 most of the time. That is why I liked playing more of a midrange/tutor version that some of you might remember - it distrupted your opponent WHILE developing your own board and then overwhelmed on one turn.
I dont think we will become Titan deck - we can not attack with him most of the time, for us it was almost always way to tutor 2 utility lands - kessig, nykthos, horizon canopy or arena = way to win a game, way to overwhelm, card advantage or repetable removal spell.
IMO KoTR fits our deck much better. He still can be used to get those utility lands and can be easily cast when our mana ramp is killed. He fits midrange devotion in my oppinion as khaosknight suggested - especially now as we have access to retreat to coralhelm, which btw is good card on its own (landdrops - especially fetches - are ramping us with any mana dork, and super ramp with arbor elf).
Not time to write more as I need to get to work - however I will post my decklist later today in my preparing to GP Bolognia - when testing online I wont play Curio as it is impossible to do so.
Last question - so is T&N really better that Genesis Wave?
I played in a monday night modern playing planeswalker devotion and I loved playing this deck. Played last version posted by CurdBros in this thread.
I comboed out on turn 4 almost every game. I often had turn 3 Karn - and I agree, this card is really good right now. Just eating opponent land is awsome.
Played vs: Abzan (2-0), Narset-combo (2-1), Allies (2-0) and drew with Jund (to go to home earlier).
Deck was smooth, however I would preffer no to play Fertile Growth (if only Wild Growth was printed...). IMO this deck wants more non-creature acceleration.
One achievement that I unclocked is that I comboed off on turn 4 or 5 after my opponent maelstrom pulsed my 3 utopia sprawls
OF COURSE we remember you! You are one of the "founding fathers" of this thread (and I'd say the archetype). Glad to hear you've been enjoying devotion again!
I was initially skeptical that a turn 3-4 Karn would be "enough" to win most games; but thankfully it has been. I've found that Karn really goes such a long way to slowing the opponent down that we quickly begin to overwhelm them.
You are right on all fronts (no surprise). I'm not a huge fan of Fertile Ground either. It is just a good way to ensure the Garruk+Nissa Combo has enough mana (if you happen to not find any Nykthos's) and it helps fix in games 2-3 (not that we really need it). I'm down to one copy right now; and to be honest, I'm finding myself "comboing off" with Garruk & Karn just as much as I am Garruk and Nissa now. This could be to the reduction to one copy of Nissa....I just sometimes feel that I don't want to draw multiple and/or early copies of Nissa. She's amazing in some match ups though. I'd love to hear your thoughts on whether I should be running 1 or 2 copies of Nissa, Worldwaker as I'm torn....I almost think I'm getting to a point now (with all of the creatures) that it would be better to go back to Xenagos, the Reveler (or a 1/1 split)!
I do agree about the non-creature acceleration. Between Arbor Elf, Garruk, and Nissa...it is traditionally better for the deck. It has to be balanced with creatures (due to Kessig Wolf Run, Garruk's Overrun, blockers, etc.) but even the fact that it makes us far less vunerable to board wipes can't be understated. Can you imagine if Wild Growth was available to us!! My lord. It would certainly help us with both speed and consistency. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm going to write to Wizards about it. Can't hurt to ask
I'm glad to hear from you again! I hope all is well. Please do let me know of any feedback, constructive criticism, ideas you have as well. There is NOTHING I like seeing more than actual games played with the actual deck; and the information you provided is extremely helpful. I'm just glad to hear it did so well (although I can imagine a good portion of that was the pilot more than the deck).
One thing for you - I think this deck just plays too slow for GP. It might be a problem in long run.
I draw a tons of cards in a loop. Vs Jund I generated 15 mana and looped abundant growth. HOWEVER he asked me to stop on every loop. He is allowed to do so. If my opponent wants, drawing ~15cards could be done in ~10 minutes, as he can respond to cast, to draw trigger, to curio trigger, etc.
I dont know if you tested it on a bigger events, however it might be a problem in a long run.
I will try to play more to prepare for Modern GP on march next year. Will probably try every version posted here
I played in a monday night modern playing planeswalker devotion and I loved playing this deck. Played last version posted by CurdBros in this thread.
I comboed out on turn 4 almost every game. I often had turn 3 Karn - and I agree, this card is really good right now. Just eating opponent land is awsome.
Played vs: Abzan (2-0), Narset-combo (2-1), Allies (2-0) and drew with Jund (to go to home earlier).
Deck was smooth, however I would preffer no to play Fertile Growth (if only Wild Growth was printed...). IMO this deck wants more non-creature acceleration.
One achievement that I unclocked is that I comboed off on turn 4 or 5 after my opponent maelstrom pulsed my 3 utopia sprawls
...and I can't currently remember the 15th sideboard card... I'll edit it in later.
Just talking generically about my games today Primal command pulled it's weight fantastically. I got a scoop from my tokens opponent who saw me get eternal witness with it, saw the soft lock, and presumed it was a hard lock, though in fairness it was the game where he was land flooded and once I'd time walked him three times I was going to get the Sabertooth and then it would have been a hard lock. It was also useful to just slow him down bouncing lands and springs in game 3.
It was obviously a complete beast in the burn matchup. I think I ended on 26 life in game 1 after I just chained together commands and witnesses and blocking / decaying his threats. He also left eidolon in after sideboard ing which he realized was a mistake halfway through game 2.
I think, but I can't be certain that primal command also did super good work in game 1 against twin as I kept him off four mana for a turn, but I don't think he had it. (I could be wrong though, he spent a lot of the game digging)
Slaughter games basically saved me from a round 1 defeat against Jeskai ascendancy combo. I'd slowed him down by killing his early dorks and then along came slaughter games allowing me to rip his glittering wishes from the deck which I believe really makes it hard for them to win as they often hide win cons in the sideboard.
The absolute biggest card though was abrupt decay. Pulled work in every single game (and most notably versus the combo players) it just got me out of so many situations, especially 3 deceiver exarchs and a pester mite in the same game. (Thank you eternal witness!)
Overall I was really impressed with the deck, I think it was maybe running a little hot? But there were a few matchups I hadn't played a great deal, and I think that people had a hard time understanding the decks angle of attack, which maybe helped.
Lots of compliments on the deck though, I think people like seeing something like this across the table from them!
I'm expecting tomorrow (today really, but I'm going to try and get some more sleep) to be a lot harder work, and I'm going to do my best but there are still some matchups I'd prefer to avoid.
For the record I saw significant amounts of splinter twin and abzan in the grinder, so I would not at all be surprised to see a big meta share from those decks.
Lots of other decks were represented, I saw boggles, gifts, Tron, infect, soul sisters, merfolk, dredge... I could go on, but I guess what I'm saying is, the meta looks pretty healthy, I've no idea how it will shake out tomorrow, but I shall jolly well do my best!
I played almost same list on modern monday 1 week ago, however played Lotus Cobras over Strangleroots (I dont really find value in geists, but hat is me). I finished 4-0-1 splitting finals.
i think the primal command thing is interesting and i've certainly caught a few people out with it. but i don't think it's properly competitive.
if i'm honest, and after all the insane hours of testing i've put into this deck, i think the direction we should consider taking is towards junk-style value creatures, and those creatures with really tasty activated abilities which we can abuse with our mana (looking at you, Tasigur, the golden claw and shaman of the great hunt).
chord of calling is the key to making this all work. whereas i used to run a couple, i think it's genuinely now the main core spell of the deck, post-banning and looking forward at the idea of this deck maybe becoming competitive.
i also think certain staples of the deck (i.e. elesh norn, grand cenobite) will remain solid choices for the deck (i mean why play a ramp deck if you aren't going to cast big spells?) but i feel like fallback cards which enable a solid midrange strategy are the way to keep the deck from falling prey to its own devices (i.e. topdecking birds of paradise on turn 6 when you're trying to close the game out).
those kinds of fallback cards are those like restoration angel and siege rhino.
the trick will be finding a balance between cards which give you devotion (courser of kruphix) and those which don't give a lot (or any) devotion but actually win you the game (like angel and rhino).
why not play junk?
if you're running chord in the deck (which junk decks don't) and you've got access to plenty of mana (which junk decks don't) then you'll have access to silver bullets (like Kataki, war's wage) and to card-advantage machines (like Tasigur). there's always the option (however unlikely) that you can just chord into an infinite combo to win the game at instant speed. a card like kiki could prove reasonable, although the red in the cost means drawing him is awkward. other options needed.
in a sense, in order to be competitive, we have to build on the strengths and strategies of the Pod decks, before pod was banned.... the advantage is we can rely on nykthos to be a really excellent source of mana for abusing activated abilities.
so here's a rough list off the top of my head. it's a starting point. my aim here is that we start (as a group) thinking more competitively and drop some of the dead-end ideas that have cluttered the thread in the past. more casual builds could throw up some interesting ideas, but don't tend to lead to decks getting promoted or seen at GPs and stuff.
Why I agree on some parts, I am totally not a fan of your build at all. I dont see any synergy with vengevine. I also dont get how you want to play tasigur or get use of witness (fetches only?). You also dont have enough acceleration or resto angel synergy... Sry to say but imo this deck is really bad and I would just rather play standard junk over it...)
I have one question: Did you event try and play Primal Command with Eternal Witness?
What you are talking about it total bull***t for me. This deck (in most configurations) doesnt have problems vs discard spells. Why? Because when they have discard, they are forced to pick Eternal Witness most of the time. We really have good matchup vs rock-like decks. It wasnt a problem.
As for Blue deck - that is partially true. Yes, it is bad if you invest all of your mana into one big spell and let it be countered, however ... then you are playing it wrong. Vs Blue deck you just get ~2 threats onto board, which they would need to get rid of. If they wont - cool, let them get lower, and then they would need to react - either tap out or limit their mana. Then you have to push with either multiple important mana denial spells (command, choke, boil, slime) or go for a card advantage (garruk, witness). As most of the time it will be in 2nd main, you shouldnt overcomit to get stuff wrathed, but get more and more advantage.
Of course it doesnt work vs combo-like decks that interract with us like Twin (I dont ever thought Scapeshift is bad matchup while I played command...), game 1 you dont have many options and it is a race, however post board when you have interraction you can then play similar as vs normal bluw deck.
Stuff you told might be true for going all in, however you shouldnt play like that... if you do, then you are correctly punished.
I have played this deck more than you would think and I have been outplayed everytime by anyone playing blue because this deck can just sit there, start deploying its 4-5 cc drops only to see thoe Remand / Snap-Remanded/ Cryptic and then die to Scapeshift or Splinter twin. So yes, I guess I know what I'm talking about and it's not b*ll***** as you are telling to. Salty much?
Of course this deck does well in going over the top of other fair, non-blue decks. But it can't interact with combo decks. Neither with Tron too much. Neither with Affinity.
Enjoy your Cloudstone Curio build which I assume gets wrecked by Electrolyze and Pyroclasm. You are the proof many people here can't understand what is competitive and what is not. Cloudstone Curio, Rakdos Return, Bonfire in Modern? ALL THE (TOO) EXPENSIVE JUNK CRAMMED TOGETHER! YAY! Sign me up.
Sayonara.
No one is forcing you to play it. It isnt the easiest deck to play, you know...
And of course you can interract. Mana denial is a form of interraction (in case of command build).
I think you still dont get how does sideboard works... How can you even complain to loose vs affinity if you are playing in 3 of the best colors destroying artifacts (which 1 also works vs tron) and vs twin (both/either red and white easily handle twin), counterspells(I was advocate of trap for very long time, and we decided it isnt as needed as we can play around counterspells/play boseiju and cavern...).
About me being uncompetitive - show us your build. Show us your results in different matchups. Show us your thoughts, not just complains without any basis or thoughts how to handle them. Did you even read this thread? Or the previous one? If so you might get to know some answers.
Did you try Cloudstone Curio? CurdBros, not me is the one that mentioned it first in this thread (as well as "ElfWave"and all other versions through his comments and passion). I am just developer of concept of "Devotion Toolbox" as well as "Midrange Devotion", which was later taken by Purklefluff as I stopped writing here (but only here as I had chat with both of them). I have hundreds of tournament games (mtgo, ptq, gpt, fnm) with different types of builds - you can torpede anything, however do it with arguments.
And yes, Rakdos Return and Bonfire. One is game over while played turn 3-4 or when they are forced to tap out. Other acts as way to get rid of horde of creatures while not loosing ours. Both acts as a non-combat finishers and are amazing topdecks.
The inherent problem this deck has is that its gameplan is very predictable AND it struggles too much to accomplish its missions (i.e. loading kilos of mana for a big spell) in the face of blue/black disruptive decks. Or worse, it gets killed quickly by aggressive strategies (like Affinity) because it doesn't oppose any resistance. It is like playing a Standard midrange deck (sorcery-speed, predictable game-plan, fatties too expensive in cmc) in a format of a superior magnitude.
I agree with Purklepuff that loading on vanilla fatties or weakish pieces isn't the direction to go. What I would look to instead is trying to think the deck as a silver-bullet concoction (much like Pod it was) able to grab the right card at the right time.
The main point nobody seems to have explored yet, though, is that a Primal Command deck just doesn't work in Modern. Chord of Calling may work; its instant speed nature comes very handy in solving specific issues of the deck, such as tutoring at instant-speed for Reclamation Sage with Splinter Twin enchanting a Deceiver Exarch on the verge of being activated. Or the same scenario, but involving Cranial Plating. Or even: Chording for Temur Sabretooth in response to a removal or a sweeper with huge loads of mana.
Chord of Calling adds that dimension of complexity this deck doesn't have at the moment, which is the reason why it so easy to outplay by tempo decks. Your opponent playing Remands and Cryptics will have to think twice about tapping in your eot, especially because there are certain creatures that can be painful to Chord for (Thragtusk or beefier stuff, for example).
There are also benefits in running a shell optimized for Chord. Wall of Roots provides two mana for it (one for convoke and one from mana ability) and by itself it is a resilient turn two play immune to Bolt and able to block early aggressors, unlike Voyaging Satyr which is slow and just bad. Chording for Witness is a free-roll and two more mana for Nykthos (old tech from Pod).
I would start from there if you haven't already (I haven't read the whole topic). This may help. I like this deck and look forward to develop it but as it is now it can't just compete.
I have one question: Did you event try and play Primal Command with Eternal Witness?
What you are talking about it total bull***t for me. This deck (in most configurations) doesnt have problems vs discard spells. Why? Because when they have discard, they are forced to pick Eternal Witness most of the time. We really have good matchup vs rock-like decks. It wasnt a problem.
As for Blue deck - that is partially true. Yes, it is bad if you invest all of your mana into one big spell and let it be countered, however ... then you are playing it wrong. Vs Blue deck you just get ~2 threats onto board, which they would need to get rid of. If they wont - cool, let them get lower, and then they would need to react - either tap out or limit their mana. Then you have to push with either multiple important mana denial spells (command, choke, boil, slime) or go for a card advantage (garruk, witness). As most of the time it will be in 2nd main, you shouldnt overcomit to get stuff wrathed, but get more and more advantage.
Of course it doesnt work vs combo-like decks that interract with us like Twin (I dont ever thought Scapeshift is bad matchup while I played command...), game 1 you dont have many options and it is a race, however post board when you have interraction you can then play similar as vs normal bluw deck.
Stuff you told might be true for going all in, however you shouldnt play like that... if you do, then you are correctly punished.
As for agressive decks - burn wasnt really a problem, as for zoo-like decks you easily clog up ground, and either combo-off or get enought life and card advantage throu command that you would outgrind them.
As for affinity - game 1 it is a race, which you are correctly saying we loose... however it is similar with most decks game 1. Deck like affinity have really bad game 2 and 3, as they are known deck that gets blown up by timely sideboard. If you arent prepared for sb games, I think it is correct that you should be punished... thats why most of us have ~3 sb slots dedicated vs affinity.
As for me - I am currently enjoying CurdBros Infinite Elves (curio is so good with abundant growths and visionaries) and trying to develop different take o n junk/4 color midrange - similar to stuff I talked about before (arbor elf, utopia sprawl, lotus cobra, siege rhino, disciple of bolas, restoration angel, thragtusk, genesis hydra, knigt of the reliquary, both of the garruks, batterskull) - it should be somewhere here as well as in history of mtgo. That kind of deck is interracting on different basis if needed - by blowing up thier hand (rakdos return), thier board (bonfire of the damned) or burrying in card advangate (angel, disciple, thragtusk, rhino) backed by powerful mana accelerators (utopia, arbor, cobra, garruk). I just have to figure, if I preffer Witness recursion or knight of the reliquary midrange power - both have thier own pros and cons.
Another interesting point that rises from the banninggs is that The toolbox version of green devotion may now be the best toolbox in the format :). We have a few posters on here that have championed this deck in the past. I would love to hear what you think.
Here I am not so sure, as I faced Bant Chord + Fauna Shaman Vengevine deck, however you might be right.
The bannings are interesting. I feel like pod was one of our better matchups and delver one of our worse but I'm worried that twin comes back strong which is terrible for us (or me at least).
I actually believe this is good for us. Twin can be difficult (and more so for the non–combo versions); but if it is the known enemy; we can board to deal with it (defense grid, thorn if amethyst, combust, natures claim, vines of Vastwood, etc.). I saw an interesting idea on the combo elf thread. One of the posters runs Root Maze in his board. I will certainly try it out tonight.
The new meta will have a lot of BGx Siege Rhino, Goyf, Bob, Liliana decks (pure value) which we run over :). So that's good news. Pod was not a bad match up though (although I hated when they pod-Ed for Linvala) but most of those players will just play a Abzan/Jund midrange decks which we are great against.
The banninggs will mean small changes here or there (I'll uodate my list tonight) but I think they end up helping us (maybe most for Stompy decks).
My only fear is that if it gets too good they'll just ban Nyhthos! Ha
I am really sad you forget about me. I was talking about Root Mazes long time ago (I tried elf agro that time), as well as a way to ge even more land hate package (Primal Command, Root Maze, Plow Under, Choke...). Sad Panda is sad.
2-0 vs Delver
2-0 vs Delver
2-0 vs UWR Control
1-2 vs Merfolk (I needed him to not topdeck lord in one turn (he was helbend). I played to win, he topdecked it so I lost)
Decklist on last page, put 1 Polukranos in place of 3rd Restoration Angel.
With such a lifegain Delver feels really easy. Plus amount of card draw and card advantage I can generate feels really hard to beat by control. I even played Garruk, Primal Hunter on turn 3 with a mana to pay for Mana Leak...
As always still not knowing what is an correct ratio of 3 drops (I didnt hate Eternal Witness, however I think I would preffer other 3 drops. Dont know if Smiter is correct.
I wanted this deck to be good vs:
BGx decks, either pod or rock style.
Delver and Burn - heavy lifegain subtheme
Control - lots of card advantage
Sideboard as always directed vs deck I have hard time:
Removal for twin
Slaughter Games vs Scapeshift, Adnauseum
Fracturing Gust and Stony Silence vs Affinity.
What GSZ would give is a way of playing more 1 mana accelerators (dryad arbor is what I am talking about) while not flooding with them. GSZ is easily 4 of in anykind of green creature deck. It is Titan 3-6, Ezuri 3-6, Gilt Leaf Archdruid 2-5, Elvish Archdruid 5-8 in elf deck. Knight of the Reliquary, Polukranos, Courser 2-5 in midrange decks.
It isnt something Pod would play, as most of their creatures arent green. It is something that GW agro or a Ramp deck would play.
I started not playing Titan long ago. Even when casted on turn 3, it sometimes was too slow as decks were comboing off on turn 4 most of the time. That is why I liked playing more of a midrange/tutor version that some of you might remember - it distrupted your opponent WHILE developing your own board and then overwhelmed on one turn.
I dont think we will become Titan deck - we can not attack with him most of the time, for us it was almost always way to tutor 2 utility lands - kessig, nykthos, horizon canopy or arena = way to win a game, way to overwhelm, card advantage or repetable removal spell.
IMO KoTR fits our deck much better. He still can be used to get those utility lands and can be easily cast when our mana ramp is killed. He fits midrange devotion in my oppinion as khaosknight suggested - especially now as we have access to retreat to coralhelm, which btw is good card on its own (landdrops - especially fetches - are ramping us with any mana dork, and super ramp with arbor elf).
Not time to write more as I need to get to work - however I will post my decklist later today in my preparing to GP Bolognia - when testing online I wont play Curio as it is impossible to do so.
Last question - so is T&N really better that Genesis Wave?
One thing for you - I think this deck just plays too slow for GP. It might be a problem in long run.
I draw a tons of cards in a loop. Vs Jund I generated 15 mana and looped abundant growth. HOWEVER he asked me to stop on every loop. He is allowed to do so. If my opponent wants, drawing ~15cards could be done in ~10 minutes, as he can respond to cast, to draw trigger, to curio trigger, etc.
I dont know if you tested it on a bigger events, however it might be a problem in a long run.
I will try to play more to prepare for Modern GP on march next year. Will probably try every version posted here
I played in a monday night modern playing planeswalker devotion and I loved playing this deck. Played last version posted by CurdBros in this thread.
I comboed out on turn 4 almost every game. I often had turn 3 Karn - and I agree, this card is really good right now. Just eating opponent land is awsome.
Played vs: Abzan (2-0), Narset-combo (2-1), Allies (2-0) and drew with Jund (to go to home earlier).
Deck was smooth, however I would preffer no to play Fertile Growth (if only Wild Growth was printed...). IMO this deck wants more non-creature acceleration.
One achievement that I unclocked is that I comboed off on turn 4 or 5 after my opponent maelstrom pulsed my 3 utopia sprawls
I am mostly interested in using arbor elves and utopia sprawls to ramp to either turn 2/3 gifts or to reliably cast cards stranded in hand.
I played almost same list on modern monday 1 week ago, however played Lotus Cobras over Strangleroots (I dont really find value in geists, but hat is me). I finished 4-0-1 splitting finals.
Why I agree on some parts, I am totally not a fan of your build at all. I dont see any synergy with vengevine. I also dont get how you want to play tasigur or get use of witness (fetches only?). You also dont have enough acceleration or resto angel synergy... Sry to say but imo this deck is really bad and I would just rather play standard junk over it...)
No one is forcing you to play it. It isnt the easiest deck to play, you know...
And of course you can interract. Mana denial is a form of interraction (in case of command build).
I think you still dont get how does sideboard works... How can you even complain to loose vs affinity if you are playing in 3 of the best colors destroying artifacts (which 1 also works vs tron) and vs twin (both/either red and white easily handle twin), counterspells(I was advocate of trap for very long time, and we decided it isnt as needed as we can play around counterspells/play boseiju and cavern...).
About me being uncompetitive - show us your build. Show us your results in different matchups. Show us your thoughts, not just complains without any basis or thoughts how to handle them. Did you even read this thread? Or the previous one? If so you might get to know some answers.
Did you try Cloudstone Curio? CurdBros, not me is the one that mentioned it first in this thread (as well as "ElfWave"and all other versions through his comments and passion). I am just developer of concept of "Devotion Toolbox" as well as "Midrange Devotion", which was later taken by Purklefluff as I stopped writing here (but only here as I had chat with both of them). I have hundreds of tournament games (mtgo, ptq, gpt, fnm) with different types of builds - you can torpede anything, however do it with arguments.
And yes, Rakdos Return and Bonfire. One is game over while played turn 3-4 or when they are forced to tap out. Other acts as way to get rid of horde of creatures while not loosing ours. Both acts as a non-combat finishers and are amazing topdecks.
I have one question: Did you event try and play Primal Command with Eternal Witness?
What you are talking about it total bull***t for me. This deck (in most configurations) doesnt have problems vs discard spells. Why? Because when they have discard, they are forced to pick Eternal Witness most of the time. We really have good matchup vs rock-like decks. It wasnt a problem.
As for Blue deck - that is partially true. Yes, it is bad if you invest all of your mana into one big spell and let it be countered, however ... then you are playing it wrong. Vs Blue deck you just get ~2 threats onto board, which they would need to get rid of. If they wont - cool, let them get lower, and then they would need to react - either tap out or limit their mana. Then you have to push with either multiple important mana denial spells (command, choke, boil, slime) or go for a card advantage (garruk, witness). As most of the time it will be in 2nd main, you shouldnt overcomit to get stuff wrathed, but get more and more advantage.
Of course it doesnt work vs combo-like decks that interract with us like Twin (I dont ever thought Scapeshift is bad matchup while I played command...), game 1 you dont have many options and it is a race, however post board when you have interraction you can then play similar as vs normal bluw deck.
Stuff you told might be true for going all in, however you shouldnt play like that... if you do, then you are correctly punished.
As for agressive decks - burn wasnt really a problem, as for zoo-like decks you easily clog up ground, and either combo-off or get enought life and card advantage throu command that you would outgrind them.
As for affinity - game 1 it is a race, which you are correctly saying we loose... however it is similar with most decks game 1. Deck like affinity have really bad game 2 and 3, as they are known deck that gets blown up by timely sideboard. If you arent prepared for sb games, I think it is correct that you should be punished... thats why most of us have ~3 sb slots dedicated vs affinity.
As for me - I am currently enjoying CurdBros Infinite Elves (curio is so good with abundant growths and visionaries) and trying to develop different take o n junk/4 color midrange - similar to stuff I talked about before (arbor elf, utopia sprawl, lotus cobra, siege rhino, disciple of bolas, restoration angel, thragtusk, genesis hydra, knigt of the reliquary, both of the garruks, batterskull) - it should be somewhere here as well as in history of mtgo. That kind of deck is interracting on different basis if needed - by blowing up thier hand (rakdos return), thier board (bonfire of the damned) or burrying in card advangate (angel, disciple, thragtusk, rhino) backed by powerful mana accelerators (utopia, arbor, cobra, garruk). I just have to figure, if I preffer Witness recursion or knight of the reliquary midrange power - both have thier own pros and cons.
Here I am not so sure, as I faced Bant Chord + Fauna Shaman Vengevine deck, however you might be right.
I am really sad you forget about me. I was talking about Root Mazes long time ago (I tried elf agro that time), as well as a way to ge even more land hate package (Primal Command, Root Maze, Plow Under, Choke...). Sad Panda is sad.
2-0 vs Delver
2-0 vs Delver
2-0 vs UWR Control
1-2 vs Merfolk (I needed him to not topdeck lord in one turn (he was helbend). I played to win, he topdecked it so I lost)
Decklist on last page, put 1 Polukranos in place of 3rd Restoration Angel.
With such a lifegain Delver feels really easy. Plus amount of card draw and card advantage I can generate feels really hard to beat by control. I even played Garruk, Primal Hunter on turn 3 with a mana to pay for Mana Leak...
3 Restoration Angel
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Arbor Elf
4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Genesis Hydra
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Batterskull
2 Eternal Witness
2 Loxodon Smiter
2 Disciple of Bolas
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Temple Garden
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Gavony Township
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
3 Forest
4 Thragtusk
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Stomping Ground
1 Tectonic Edge
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Thoughtseize
1 Fracturing Gust
2 Stony Silence
4 Slaughter Games
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Path to Exile
And here is an image of turn 3.
As always still not knowing what is an correct ratio of 3 drops (I didnt hate Eternal Witness, however I think I would preffer other 3 drops. Dont know if Smiter is correct.
I wanted this deck to be good vs:
BGx decks, either pod or rock style.
Delver and Burn - heavy lifegain subtheme
Control - lots of card advantage
Sideboard as always directed vs deck I have hard time:
Removal for twin
Slaughter Games vs Scapeshift, Adnauseum
Fracturing Gust and Stony Silence vs Affinity.
Thoughts? Pretender or Contender?
It isnt something Pod would play, as most of their creatures arent green. It is something that GW agro or a Ramp deck would play.
I noticed some of your decks include 19 lands, while others 20. I couldnt find reasoning behind it, would be glad if you could answer it.
In ~30 min I will post my own decklist, would be glad if you could comment it. Would you also be so kind and post your Leyline of Vitality decklist?
4 Arbor Elf
3 Heritage Druid
4 Abundant Growth
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Coiling Oracle
1 Elvish Archdruid
1 Mirror Entity
1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1 Eternal Witness
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Nissa, Worldwaker
1 Primeval Titan
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
2 Genesis Hydra
3 Chord of Calling
1 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Windswept Heath
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
2 Temple Garden
5 Forest
2 Choke
2 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Quasali Pridemage
2 Stony Silence
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Leyline of Vitality
1 Scavenging Ooze
What do you think Curdbros?