After some thought on the matter I think I will probably do some testing with Venser, Shaper Savant in place of Oblation. I still like Oblation but this swap brings a creature with similar uses in for a noncreature spell. Venser can be abused much easier as well as tutored for a unique utility that I dont have replicated. I considered some other options but primarily I sort of wanted him to replace something of a similar use and I think that Oblation fits a similar mana cost and use effect. Venser also has a lot of other uses such as simply giving me more triggers of the same ETB ability by bouncing important things like the drake back to hand once it has been used.
BAM! 48 hours later on the nose. I have too much time on my hands when I feel like timing my replies to 48 hours on the nose.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I'm more amused with the 48 hours than I am with the oblation replacement! It's not a bad idea though since it does give card advantage to those who became oblated!
Edit: Thoughts on the new counter? I think it's too narrow and too expensive for this kind of 'competitive' list. But I thought it was neat and deserved some discussion.
Well my thoughts on the matter of Venser being that I can tutor for him, rez him, and abuse him for multiple uses. Unlike Mystic Snake I can rezurect Venser to do more things. Abusing the snake seems a bit harder to do. If I miss the window to counter Venser can still bounce a lot of problematic things. I am not going to make any official changes to my list but I will be doing a little testing for now of it.
As for Tooth and Nail, I pulled it a while back because it wasnt really pulling its weight. I dont have much for immediate wincons so if I still ran Avenger of Zendikar I would likely still be running it but as I am not running it anymore I found my targets for it to be a bit less stellar considering how slow it is and how flashy it normally is. People sort of freak out when you cast T&N and when I would use it on sort of subpar targets that don't end the game I wasn't impressed by it. I wanted to cut my mana curve down and so cutting T&N was one of the things I did to cut it down. As for what I replaced it with I think I cut it for Brainstorm.
Winding Canyons has been handy. I use it a bit now and then later in the game once I load up on mana. It is useful for getting some surprise attacks in and it gives a great defense allowing you to sort of just spook people with the fact that they dont know what you have in hand / play. You can throw out a lot of surprise blockers / interact with Duplicant / clones and what not. I haven't used it a ton yet but I like it overall.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Well my thoughts on the matter of Venser being that I can tutor for him, rez him, and abuse him for multiple uses. Unlike Mystic Snake I can rezurect Venser to do more things. Abusing the snake seems a bit harder to do. If I miss the window to counter Venser can still bounce a lot of problematic things. I am not going to make any official changes to my list but I will be doing a little testing for now of it.
Ahhh... I guess I would have to clump it in with Spelljack and Desertion as being more for a draw / go style of deck that can afford to keep that sort of mana up arround the clock. I dont want to have to keep up what is it like 5 or 6 mana to cast a counterspell on a normal basis.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Tracker's Instincts - 1G
Sorcery
Reveal the top four cards of you library. Put a creature card among them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
Flashback 2U
Tracker's Instincts - 1G
Sorcery
Reveal the top four cards of you library. Put a creature card among them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
Flashback 2U
Ok I guess it is time for my DKA assessment. I guess I will start out by saying that I don't currently intend to make any changes to my deck associated to DKA's new spoiled cards. I will however sort of run through the cards that I sort of did look at at the bare minimum and give sort of a rundown on my thoughts of the card:
WHITE:
Séance this is an interesting enchantment and it is actually well costed mana wise. However we use tons of creature rez in the deck so I wouldn't really want to just go ahead and exile creatures. Also keep in mind that the creature you rez does not have haste so it only works to re-trigger an ETB ability off of the creature and use it as a blocker. I would honestly bring Sword of Light and Shadow back into my list wayyyyyy before I would consider running this in here. Interesting card but I dont know what kind of deck I would want to use this in...
GREEN:
Dawntreader Elk hey look a Sakura-Tribe Elder... or not... sadly this card got my hopes up then I sort of took a second look at it and realized it was strictly worse than like every single land fetching guy I already have in the list. I would have LOVED a functional reprint of tribe elder... Screw having a bigger body this card got screwed by having a mana cost to activate its ability. It came sooooo close to being playable then they screwed the pooch. Ohh well on to the next card.
Feed the Pack sort of an interesting enchantment for a token based deck. We have plenty of creatures to sacrifice for this however tokens don't do a whole lot for us... Interesting card but definitely doesn't fit this deck. Sort of interesting though I would love to see a deck that this is ideal for (If there is one).
Grim Flowering interesting card, but seriously if you even consider this then just go ahead and play Praetor's Counsel instead. I think that Grim is an interesting card but I really detest the really big graveyard effect cards as they are super slow and not fun to opening hand / draw early. Interesting card but I think there is really already a card that does a similar effect to this with Nature's Resurgence. Obviously Grim is different as only you draw but still I am not going to run it.
Tracker's Instincts it is sort of expensive to use and doesn't result in much CA. This deck doesn't run that many creatures as to have this be crazy by any means. Plus what happens if it misses. Not nearly good enough. This is like Forbidden Alchemy gone wrong... I want more CA out of my cards or I will just run a creature tutor and go for the specific creature I want.
BLUE:
Beguiler of Wills no ETB ability, frail, and it relies on us over extending. Sure it will be cute if it sticks but at the same time so is Avenger of Zendikar and I don't run that... I worried about this for a while when it got spoiled but I doubt it will be used anywhere. Move on to the next card.
Counterlash expensive counterspell that gives some additional value. I would sort of throw this in with Spelljack and Desertion for power level. I want my counterspells to be cheap though generally speaking as keeping 6 mana up is almost unreasonable. Plus on top of that this card rewards you for countering specific things that fit what you are trying to reuse which in my mind is just bad in a counterspell. If I was willing to pay this much mana for a counter I would probably go back to Desertion to be honest.
Dungeon Geists I actually thought this was sort of a cute effect but then I realized I could totally just run Sower of Temptation which would be a solidly better creature... Ya well I think that just about wraps that up lol.
Tower Geist a flying Sea Gate Oracle for one more mana... hard to be excited for it but considering I have considered Sea Gate Oracle a few times I did look at this card briefly. However I dont value flying that highly on my utility 2/2s in this deck.
Elbrus, the Binding Blade so I dont know if this is going to have black in its color identity as I cant see a picture of it yet. It has some sort of black symbol on it in the spoiler however any way they put it the equipment isnt any good and I dont need a dumb 13/13 beater. Moving along one way or another.
Helvault if they had made the return ability a bit broader such as when it leaves play I think I would play with it for a bit but I have already been talked out of trying this card in here. Perhaps in like a mono green, mono white, or mono red but I dont think outside of that this card probably wont see much EDH play.
Jar of Eyeballs too much mana to do too little for this deck. This is like a mono white / mono red token style of card drawing card. It is just a little too intensive to do much off of it in here.
Well I guess that sort of wraps up the things I thought might even be worthy of being mentioned. I don't really intend for any changes as of now but perhaps I am under estimating something that I might have to reassess in the future... I sort of doubt it though as DKA seemed sort of meh for most EDH purposes.
EDIT: so help me the 1,000th post here better be epic or I will be very very dissapointed...
I have two things to add, and both are 99% off topic.
Firstly I have to ask, whatever happened to your Karrthus deck?!
All I want for post 1000 is boobs.
Karthus turned into Xira Arien and I played that for a while but it was like a wanna be Jenara... I ended up scrapping my Jund list as of currently. I want to get a jund list back up and running but somehow it never feels quite... right.
I have done like 3 renditions of Karrthus now and I probably would go back to him if I had some sort of idea in which I felt like he would work out better than he has in the past. He is a fun commander but somehow he always feels clunky which might just be the whole 7cc on him.
I really wish I could get a smaller version of him for like 4-5 mana even if he was a 3/3 or something... It feels like wizards always trys to over cost commanders... Sure for his size and ability he needs to be a 7cc but honestly I would love a jund dragon that is just flying + haste 3/3-5/5 for 4-5 mana.
Also... you would... and I will totally give you a spam warning for it
It's been a little while since I've posted. @ISBPathfinder... thanks for the overview of the cards from the new set. It's utterly disappointing that there isn't really anything for us in there. And the B/G W/B decks got excellent lands to abuse, while we got nothing. Very unfortunate.
On another note, I'm rethinking the possibility of the Avenger of Zendikar. He's especially good with Seedguide Ash. And the 'Ash is good with something like Diamond Valley. I lost a game to one of the betters player in my area with his Adun Oakenshield deck. Those Cabal Coffer/Urborg decks get out of control really fast and it might be nice for us to have a way to deal with that type of stuff.
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Avenger of Zendikar I always have liked avenger however now that I am not running it I really don't miss him. I didn't like how I felt like there were a lot of times where he sat in my hand and I didn't want to play him. He isn't something you can just slam whenever as that is an easy way to just walk right into a wrath effect. I did like using him with Tooth and Nail but I also cut that to keep my mana curve down and honestly without Avenger it wasn't that impressive anyways. So I would want to re include both of the cards and I just haven't felt I need it. He is a good finisher but very dependent on what your meta runs. I haven't seen an Avenger actually turn out well in some time in my area. He is a great creature but he does nothing if someone has an answer. This type of deck doesn't put out a lot of must answer creatures or the ones it does generate value quickly. I dont like him because unless he gets 1-2 swings he likely wont be generating much value. I will say that I have added Winding Canyons since cutting him which might be a fun thing to kick out of the canyons. Still... ehhh I am not really excited to get him back in the list as I haven't found I need him. I think it is sort of a personal call. I find him better though in a deck where you have a lot of cards that need to be answered by wrathing the board as then you can run opponents out of those resources.
Seedguide Ash I have run him in a few decks and without the sac outlet to kick off of him I find him to be slow. I have considered him in Jenara before and we just lack the good number of sac outlets that I would want to run to make it the most effective. He is nice as nobody really wants to waste a Swords to Plowshares or something of that caliber on him. If you felt like running a ton of the sac outlet lands then I guess you could start looking at him however my only one currently is the Birthing Pod. He is a bit slow mana wise for a creature that will hopefully eventually ramp. Primeval Titan is an immediate value which makes him good. This guy is a perhaps eventually ramp...
Diamond Valley better with more creatures that need to be sacrificed regularly. In the case of Adun Oakenshield he needs to move his creatures into the graveyard so he can pick them back up and reuse them. I really dont like lands that I cant tap for mana as well so Diamond Valley can be annoying in here. In Adun you can totally use Urborg to make it tap for mana as well. I would likely look at something like High Market which I feel is a bit more flexible. I cant remember the last time I had an issue with someone just swinging with a few beats where having 5-10 more life would have made a difference.
Are you having a problem answering Coffers or are you having problems with them recurring it? Personally I haven't had a problem with coffers because everyone in our meta packs Strip Mines and what not and not a whole lot of targets for them. Due to this we have times where we will have Strip Mine standoffs where 2-3 Strip Mines are just sitting in play at the same time.
The problem is when they get the coffers/urborg engine going every game due to cards like primeval titan. Any time I'm facing this particular player in a game, I'm forced to go after him because his deck gets out of control rather quickly. Anyway, just a side musing is all. Sad to see no new exciting cards from this upcoming set for our deck.
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The problem is when they get the coffers/urborg engine going every game due to cards like primeval titan. Any time I'm facing this particular player in a game, I'm forced to go after him because his deck gets out of control rather quickly. Anyway, just a side musing is all. Sad to see no new exciting cards from this upcoming set for our deck.
I agree it is a bit sad to see such little support for bant in any shape way and or form. However not to daudle into any sort of speculation, but if you look at DKA you will notice they focus heavily on black multicolored stuff... It sort of reminds me of Torment which was followed by the W/G heavy Judgement set. Who knows what next set will give us but I can only hope for better results than DKA as I think it is sort of an EDH flop outside of 1-2 commanders.
If you continue to have issues with Coffers you might include more land hate such as Wasteland / Tectonic Edge. That pesky coffers is a pain in the ass but there isnt much to be done about it other than hate on that player and or pack more answers for it.
The problem is when they get the coffers/urborg engine going every game due to cards like primeval titan. Any time I'm facing this particular player in a game, I'm forced to go after him because his deck gets out of control rather quickly. Anyway, just a side musing is all. Sad to see no new exciting cards from this upcoming set for our deck.
Yeah, he always picks on me! So unfair
Conversely, I have to accel and go after you early because your mid-game and card quality is so insane. I do love the games, win or lose.. Ok, more win that lose
Yeah, he always picks on me! So unfair
Conversely, I have to accel and go after you early because your mid-game and card quality is so insane. I do love the games, win or lose.. Ok, more win that lose
Watch out, if you irritate Ammo too much he might start packing combo again in here. Survival combo is quite potent in here but we cut it a while back because the deck didn't really need it and we both sort of felt bad executing it.
By the way nice Adun list.
EDIT: P.S. Ammo you should go make a mono red deck and pack it with blood moon / ruination effects and see how he likes that
Haha... funny that you mention that, because he brought out a mono-red deck the other day and I think he was as bored playing it as I was watching it. Also, people generally hate LD decks that just don't do much else.
And yes, I definitely deserve to be picked on by him. He's got the most competitive deck by far, and he knows exactly what his game plan is every time. I may have to go for a combo in the "competitive" games. It's just a shame because winning by combo is a big fat yawn. To be fair to our Jenara deck, I still win more than my fair share... my main point was just that the engine he's got going is very dangerous.
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Watch out, if you irritate Ammo too much he might start packing combo again in here. Survival combo is quite potent in here but we cut it a while back because the deck didn't really need it and we both sort of felt bad executing it.
By the way nice Adun list.
EDIT: P.S. Ammo you should go make a mono red deck and pack it with blood moon / ruination effects and see how he likes that
LOL, I definitely enjoy the games more because it really isn't about such combos. If he packed it, I do what I could to fight it.
Thank you for the compliment.. I've done what I can.. I still have a couple of cards I want to squeeze in, but I just can't!
Haha... funny that you mention that, because he brought out a mono-red deck the other day and I think he was as bored playing it as I was watching it. Also, people generally hate LD decks that just don't do much else.
And yes, I definitely deserve to be picked on by him. He's got the most competitive deck by far, and he knows exactly what his game plan is every time. I may have to go for a combo in the "competitive" games. It's just a shame because winning by combo is a big fat yawn. To be fair to our Jenara deck, I still win more than my fair share... my main point was just that the engine he's got going is very dangerous.
Yeah, that red deck is not meant to be competitive, its just fun, but in a field of just fun EDH decks, not really against those that are tough and/or unfair. I still don't mind playing it, playing such a bad general Shimatsu the Bloodcloaked is a source of pride lol
I always feel sorry for the third player when we're playing a pod. It's so rare they can keep up lol
I always feel sorry for the third player when we're playing a pod. It's so rare they can keep up lol
Yeah it's stupid. I actually want to make a new deck, I just can't decide on the colors. I'm also debating swapping out either the blue or the white in my deck to get black in there, since the Coffers/Urborg/Bog are just insanely strong. Plus B/G is getting that new land which is even stupider. A bit frustrating because the blue cards in the Jenara deck really are quite powerful. And truth be told, you're the only player that give me a hard time. Ha.
We need to either a) not get put in the same pod, or b) hope for competitive players in the pod. The last two times the third player was just a very minor bump in the road. That last kid was playing a 3 mana 3/1. Granted, the competition is fun, but it would be fun not to just play a 1v1 game with 3 players.
And P.S. - I know your other decks are for "fun". I kinda wanna make a "fun" one.
We need to either a) not get put in the same pod, or b) hope for competitive players in the pod. The last two times the third player was just a very minor bump in the road. That last kid was playing a 3 mana 3/1. Granted, the competition is fun, but it would be fun not to just play a 1v1 game with 3 players.
That poor kid... thought he had a chance of not getting crushed LOL
Yeah it's stupid. I actually want to make a new deck, I just can't decide on the colors. I'm also debating swapping out either the blue or the white in my deck to get black in there, since the Coffers/Urborg/Bog are just insanely strong. Plus B/G is getting that new land which is even stupider. A bit frustrating because the blue cards in the Jenara deck really are quite powerful. And truth be told, you're the only player that give me a hard time. Ha.
And P.S. - I know your other decks are for "fun". I kinda wanna make a "fun" one.
hmm.. dunno, you get SO much utility and card quality from what you have now, i'm not sure you need to switch. I could see building a second deck with some of these themes. In that case, I would swap the blue, since "U" often makes you a target lol
I think my Rasputin deck is probably about 5-8 cards off of being seriously competitive, it's probably my best fun deck. I mostly build stuff that has some strong things going on, but not super tuned. This lets them be kinda flexible and lets me fit the table's style more.
But, back to my first point.. Don't break this deck, it's incredible and you play it so well. Just start tuning another deck.
I had an interesting night last night where the only game I won was the one I ran Jenara for. I sat down at a 4 player game with really only one real opponent, Karador, Ghost Chieftain and even then I would say Jenara is far stronger than his particular list. My other two opponents were Rith, the Awakener and Ghave, Guru of Spores.
Opening hand 4 lands nice mana fixing ones at that, Solemn Simulacrum, Pact of Negation, and Spell Crumple. I keep the hand as I rarely have opening hand counterspells so I figure I will roll with it.
I start dropping lands until I hit my Jenara on turn 3 to start the clock going as well as keep people off my back for the turn as there are a few creatures in play at this point.
Turn 4: I draw a Sword of Feast and Famine but as I cant really do anything with it yet I drop the Simularcum. Swing at Karador for 3 off Jenara and pass.
Turn 5: I drop the sword and strap it onto her. I swing in for 5 on Karador and untap my lands to drop the Lurking Predators I peeled that turn.
Karador tries to drop an Acidic Slime on me and I dont like what he is going to target either way. Lurking Predators triggers and spits Akroma out for me which is quite ironic and fantastic. I Pact of Negation his Slime. The other 2 players play some jank crap and I get a free Harmonic Sliver and a Scavenging Ooze.
I pay my pact and power jenara up once and beat in again on Karador. He goes and tries to entwine a Tooth and Nail which he must have been ramping more than I noticed for earlier. I Spell Crumple it just to be mean lol. He concedes at this point as I have just stomped him into a corner. We are on turn 6 at this point.
Turn 7: I power Jenara up to a 10/10 and swing it in against Rith, the Awakener. He hasnt really gotten a chance to do much of anything yet at this point. He has a few tokens but not enough to do anything with. He swings back with his tokens which I kill a bunch of them and take like 6 damage... Rith concedes at this point.
Turn 8: I swing my army at Ghave, Guru of Spores. I had been sort of pecking at him for a bit with Akroma already as well as he lost some to Rith earlier. This attack brings him to like 5 life. He draws his card and concedes as well.
Well that was my fun story of the night having killed everyone at the table by turn 8. Well technically they all folded to me but it was still quite epic. It was sort of a goldfish game but still it was still a fun game for me for a goldfish game.
We finished that game off and went to play a game of Emperor EDH at which point the Karador player refused to play the game if I was going to run Jenara lol. I felt a bit bad so I moved to Marton.
But, back to my first point.. Don't break this deck, it's incredible and you play it so well. Just start tuning another deck.
Ha thanks. That reminds me, you inspired me to run Stonecloaker. It is far superior to Scavenging Ooze and I definitely want to make the switch. Aside from it being instant speed, it lets you rebuy Farhaven Elf or Stoneforge Mystic. This is a good change.
@Omar - your Rasputin deck seemed very good. I'd love to get us in a game with 2 other super competitive players so it's not me playing against you. Sean and Tom have competitive decks.
@ISBPathfinder -- that's pretty sick. And way to cheat with Lurking Predators. It still has a spot in my list. Pact of Negation is definitely the best counter in the format too, as we very much know.
Ha thanks. That reminds me, you inspired me to run Stonecloaker. It is far superior to Scavenging Ooze and I definitely want to make the switch. Aside from it being instant speed, it lets you rebuy Farhaven Elf or Stoneforge Mystic. This is a good change.
@Omar - your Rasputin deck seemed very good. I'd love to get us in a game with 2 other super competitive players so it's not me playing against you. Sean and Tom have competitive decks.
Crap! like I needed to help you improve YOUR deck
I'm definitely up for that 4 player game. Would be sick, however, Tom isn't convinced of the quality of Rasputin !
BAM! 48 hours later on the nose. I have too much time on my hands when I feel like timing my replies to 48 hours on the nose.
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[Modern] Allies
Edit: Thoughts on the new counter? I think it's too narrow and too expensive for this kind of 'competitive' list. But I thought it was neat and deserved some discussion.
So I noticed you cut Tooth and Nail a while ago. What did you replace it with?
Also, how has Winding Canyons been? I still have High Market in my deck but may decide to give the Canyons a try.
Finally, are you leaning towards cutting Lurking Predators?
As for Tooth and Nail, I pulled it a while back because it wasnt really pulling its weight. I dont have much for immediate wincons so if I still ran Avenger of Zendikar I would likely still be running it but as I am not running it anymore I found my targets for it to be a bit less stellar considering how slow it is and how flashy it normally is. People sort of freak out when you cast T&N and when I would use it on sort of subpar targets that don't end the game I wasn't impressed by it. I wanted to cut my mana curve down and so cutting T&N was one of the things I did to cut it down. As for what I replaced it with I think I cut it for Brainstorm.
Winding Canyons has been handy. I use it a bit now and then later in the game once I load up on mana. It is useful for getting some surprise attacks in and it gives a great defense allowing you to sort of just spook people with the fact that they dont know what you have in hand / play. You can throw out a lot of surprise blockers / interact with Duplicant / clones and what not. I haven't used it a ton yet but I like it overall.
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[Modern] Allies
I was referring to Counterlash
Ahhh... I guess I would have to clump it in with Spelljack and Desertion as being more for a draw / go style of deck that can afford to keep that sort of mana up arround the clock. I dont want to have to keep up what is it like 5 or 6 mana to cast a counterspell on a normal basis.
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[Modern] Allies
Sorcery
Reveal the top four cards of you library. Put a creature card among them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
Flashback 2U
I'm definitely going to test this one. Thoughts?
UWU/W BlinkUW
BMono-Black ControlB
Commander:
GWUJenaraGWU
BGeth MBCB
RGXenagosRG
WUBSharuumWUB (retired)
Modern:
xAffinityx (starting)
Standard:
Ha! That's a good one.
You can do better.
BRGrenzo, Dungeon Warden EDH
GAzusa, Always in a Rush EDH
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Warlord EDH
Trade thread on MOTL
WHITE:
Séance this is an interesting enchantment and it is actually well costed mana wise. However we use tons of creature rez in the deck so I wouldn't really want to just go ahead and exile creatures. Also keep in mind that the creature you rez does not have haste so it only works to re-trigger an ETB ability off of the creature and use it as a blocker. I would honestly bring Sword of Light and Shadow back into my list wayyyyyy before I would consider running this in here. Interesting card but I dont know what kind of deck I would want to use this in...
GREEN:
Dawntreader Elk hey look a Sakura-Tribe Elder... or not... sadly this card got my hopes up then I sort of took a second look at it and realized it was strictly worse than like every single land fetching guy I already have in the list. I would have LOVED a functional reprint of tribe elder... Screw having a bigger body this card got screwed by having a mana cost to activate its ability. It came sooooo close to being playable then they screwed the pooch. Ohh well on to the next card.
Feed the Pack sort of an interesting enchantment for a token based deck. We have plenty of creatures to sacrifice for this however tokens don't do a whole lot for us... Interesting card but definitely doesn't fit this deck. Sort of interesting though I would love to see a deck that this is ideal for (If there is one).
Grim Flowering interesting card, but seriously if you even consider this then just go ahead and play Praetor's Counsel instead. I think that Grim is an interesting card but I really detest the really big graveyard effect cards as they are super slow and not fun to opening hand / draw early. Interesting card but I think there is really already a card that does a similar effect to this with Nature's Resurgence. Obviously Grim is different as only you draw but still I am not going to run it.
Tracker's Instincts it is sort of expensive to use and doesn't result in much CA. This deck doesn't run that many creatures as to have this be crazy by any means. Plus what happens if it misses. Not nearly good enough. This is like Forbidden Alchemy gone wrong... I want more CA out of my cards or I will just run a creature tutor and go for the specific creature I want.
BLUE:
Beguiler of Wills no ETB ability, frail, and it relies on us over extending. Sure it will be cute if it sticks but at the same time so is Avenger of Zendikar and I don't run that... I worried about this for a while when it got spoiled but I doubt it will be used anywhere. Move on to the next card.
Counterlash expensive counterspell that gives some additional value. I would sort of throw this in with Spelljack and Desertion for power level. I want my counterspells to be cheap though generally speaking as keeping 6 mana up is almost unreasonable. Plus on top of that this card rewards you for countering specific things that fit what you are trying to reuse which in my mind is just bad in a counterspell. If I was willing to pay this much mana for a counter I would probably go back to Desertion to be honest.
Dungeon Geists I actually thought this was sort of a cute effect but then I realized I could totally just run Sower of Temptation which would be a solidly better creature... Ya well I think that just about wraps that up lol.
Tower Geist a flying Sea Gate Oracle for one more mana... hard to be excited for it but considering I have considered Sea Gate Oracle a few times I did look at this card briefly. However I dont value flying that highly on my utility 2/2s in this deck.
MULTI:
Drogskol Reaver a bad Consecrated Sphinx... move along.
ARTIFACT:
Elbrus, the Binding Blade so I dont know if this is going to have black in its color identity as I cant see a picture of it yet. It has some sort of black symbol on it in the spoiler however any way they put it the equipment isnt any good and I dont need a dumb 13/13 beater. Moving along one way or another.
Helvault if they had made the return ability a bit broader such as when it leaves play I think I would play with it for a bit but I have already been talked out of trying this card in here. Perhaps in like a mono green, mono white, or mono red but I dont think outside of that this card probably wont see much EDH play.
Jar of Eyeballs too much mana to do too little for this deck. This is like a mono white / mono red token style of card drawing card. It is just a little too intensive to do much off of it in here.
Well I guess that sort of wraps up the things I thought might even be worthy of being mentioned. I don't really intend for any changes as of now but perhaps I am under estimating something that I might have to reassess in the future... I sort of doubt it though as DKA seemed sort of meh for most EDH purposes.
EDIT: so help me the 1,000th post here better be epic or I will be very very dissapointed...
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[Modern] Allies
Firstly I have to ask, whatever happened to your Karrthus deck?!
All I want for post 1000 is boobs.
I have done like 3 renditions of Karrthus now and I probably would go back to him if I had some sort of idea in which I felt like he would work out better than he has in the past. He is a fun commander but somehow he always feels clunky which might just be the whole 7cc on him.
I really wish I could get a smaller version of him for like 4-5 mana even if he was a 3/3 or something... It feels like wizards always trys to over cost commanders... Sure for his size and ability he needs to be a 7cc but honestly I would love a jund dragon that is just flying + haste 3/3-5/5 for 4-5 mana.
Also... you would... and I will totally give you a spam warning for it
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[Modern] Allies
On another note, I'm rethinking the possibility of the Avenger of Zendikar. He's especially good with Seedguide Ash. And the 'Ash is good with something like Diamond Valley. I lost a game to one of the betters player in my area with his Adun Oakenshield deck. Those Cabal Coffer/Urborg decks get out of control really fast and it might be nice for us to have a way to deal with that type of stuff.
I also include discussions about cards we took out, cards we banned, and cards we might add.
Seedguide Ash I have run him in a few decks and without the sac outlet to kick off of him I find him to be slow. I have considered him in Jenara before and we just lack the good number of sac outlets that I would want to run to make it the most effective. He is nice as nobody really wants to waste a Swords to Plowshares or something of that caliber on him. If you felt like running a ton of the sac outlet lands then I guess you could start looking at him however my only one currently is the Birthing Pod. He is a bit slow mana wise for a creature that will hopefully eventually ramp. Primeval Titan is an immediate value which makes him good. This guy is a perhaps eventually ramp...
Diamond Valley better with more creatures that need to be sacrificed regularly. In the case of Adun Oakenshield he needs to move his creatures into the graveyard so he can pick them back up and reuse them. I really dont like lands that I cant tap for mana as well so Diamond Valley can be annoying in here. In Adun you can totally use Urborg to make it tap for mana as well. I would likely look at something like High Market which I feel is a bit more flexible. I cant remember the last time I had an issue with someone just swinging with a few beats where having 5-10 more life would have made a difference.
Are you having a problem answering Coffers or are you having problems with them recurring it? Personally I haven't had a problem with coffers because everyone in our meta packs Strip Mines and what not and not a whole lot of targets for them. Due to this we have times where we will have Strip Mine standoffs where 2-3 Strip Mines are just sitting in play at the same time.
More grave hate never hurts either.
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[Modern] Allies
I also include discussions about cards we took out, cards we banned, and cards we might add.
I agree it is a bit sad to see such little support for bant in any shape way and or form. However not to daudle into any sort of speculation, but if you look at DKA you will notice they focus heavily on black multicolored stuff... It sort of reminds me of Torment which was followed by the W/G heavy Judgement set. Who knows what next set will give us but I can only hope for better results than DKA as I think it is sort of an EDH flop outside of 1-2 commanders.
If you continue to have issues with Coffers you might include more land hate such as Wasteland / Tectonic Edge. That pesky coffers is a pain in the ass but there isnt much to be done about it other than hate on that player and or pack more answers for it.
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[Modern] Allies
Yeah, he always picks on me! So unfair
Conversely, I have to accel and go after you early because your mid-game and card quality is so insane. I do love the games, win or lose.. Ok, more win that lose
Qualified for Pro Tour Paris - Dec 2010 NYC PTQ
Winning draft deck (horrible, I know!)
Top 8: NY States 2004 with G/B Death Cloud
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Currently playing:
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Watch out, if you irritate Ammo too much he might start packing combo again in here. Survival combo is quite potent in here but we cut it a while back because the deck didn't really need it and we both sort of felt bad executing it.
By the way nice Adun list.
EDIT: P.S. Ammo you should go make a mono red deck and pack it with blood moon / ruination effects and see how he likes that
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[Modern] Allies
And yes, I definitely deserve to be picked on by him. He's got the most competitive deck by far, and he knows exactly what his game plan is every time. I may have to go for a combo in the "competitive" games. It's just a shame because winning by combo is a big fat yawn. To be fair to our Jenara deck, I still win more than my fair share... my main point was just that the engine he's got going is very dangerous.
I also include discussions about cards we took out, cards we banned, and cards we might add.
LOL, I definitely enjoy the games more because it really isn't about such combos. If he packed it, I do what I could to fight it.
Thank you for the compliment.. I've done what I can.. I still have a couple of cards I want to squeeze in, but I just can't!
Yeah, that red deck is not meant to be competitive, its just fun, but in a field of just fun EDH decks, not really against those that are tough and/or unfair. I still don't mind playing it, playing such a bad general Shimatsu the Bloodcloaked is a source of pride lol
I always feel sorry for the third player when we're playing a pod. It's so rare they can keep up lol
Qualified for Pro Tour Paris - Dec 2010 NYC PTQ
Winning draft deck (horrible, I know!)
Top 8: NY States 2004 with G/B Death Cloud
banner by [Zaphod] High~Light Studios!!
Currently playing:
EDH: UWRasputin
BGR Adun CMDRDecks Video Deck Tech
Monday Night Meetup in NYC
Yeah it's stupid. I actually want to make a new deck, I just can't decide on the colors. I'm also debating swapping out either the blue or the white in my deck to get black in there, since the Coffers/Urborg/Bog are just insanely strong. Plus B/G is getting that new land which is even stupider. A bit frustrating because the blue cards in the Jenara deck really are quite powerful. And truth be told, you're the only player that give me a hard time. Ha.
We need to either a) not get put in the same pod, or b) hope for competitive players in the pod. The last two times the third player was just a very minor bump in the road. That last kid was playing a 3 mana 3/1. Granted, the competition is fun, but it would be fun not to just play a 1v1 game with 3 players.
And P.S. - I know your other decks are for "fun". I kinda wanna make a "fun" one.
I also include discussions about cards we took out, cards we banned, and cards we might add.
That poor kid... thought he had a chance of not getting crushed LOL
hmm.. dunno, you get SO much utility and card quality from what you have now, i'm not sure you need to switch. I could see building a second deck with some of these themes. In that case, I would swap the blue, since "U" often makes you a target lol
I think my Rasputin deck is probably about 5-8 cards off of being seriously competitive, it's probably my best fun deck. I mostly build stuff that has some strong things going on, but not super tuned. This lets them be kinda flexible and lets me fit the table's style more.
But, back to my first point.. Don't break this deck, it's incredible and you play it so well. Just start tuning another deck.
Qualified for Pro Tour Paris - Dec 2010 NYC PTQ
Winning draft deck (horrible, I know!)
Top 8: NY States 2004 with G/B Death Cloud
banner by [Zaphod] High~Light Studios!!
Currently playing:
EDH: UWRasputin
BGR Adun CMDRDecks Video Deck Tech
Monday Night Meetup in NYC
I had an interesting night last night where the only game I won was the one I ran Jenara for. I sat down at a 4 player game with really only one real opponent, Karador, Ghost Chieftain and even then I would say Jenara is far stronger than his particular list. My other two opponents were Rith, the Awakener and Ghave, Guru of Spores.
Opening hand 4 lands nice mana fixing ones at that, Solemn Simulacrum, Pact of Negation, and Spell Crumple. I keep the hand as I rarely have opening hand counterspells so I figure I will roll with it.
I start dropping lands until I hit my Jenara on turn 3 to start the clock going as well as keep people off my back for the turn as there are a few creatures in play at this point.
Turn 4: I draw a Sword of Feast and Famine but as I cant really do anything with it yet I drop the Simularcum. Swing at Karador for 3 off Jenara and pass.
Turn 5: I drop the sword and strap it onto her. I swing in for 5 on Karador and untap my lands to drop the Lurking Predators I peeled that turn.
Karador tries to drop an Acidic Slime on me and I dont like what he is going to target either way. Lurking Predators triggers and spits Akroma out for me which is quite ironic and fantastic. I Pact of Negation his Slime. The other 2 players play some jank crap and I get a free Harmonic Sliver and a Scavenging Ooze.
I pay my pact and power jenara up once and beat in again on Karador. He goes and tries to entwine a Tooth and Nail which he must have been ramping more than I noticed for earlier. I Spell Crumple it just to be mean lol. He concedes at this point as I have just stomped him into a corner. We are on turn 6 at this point.
Turn 7: I power Jenara up to a 10/10 and swing it in against Rith, the Awakener. He hasnt really gotten a chance to do much of anything yet at this point. He has a few tokens but not enough to do anything with. He swings back with his tokens which I kill a bunch of them and take like 6 damage... Rith concedes at this point.
Turn 8: I swing my army at Ghave, Guru of Spores. I had been sort of pecking at him for a bit with Akroma already as well as he lost some to Rith earlier. This attack brings him to like 5 life. He draws his card and concedes as well.
Well that was my fun story of the night having killed everyone at the table by turn 8. Well technically they all folded to me but it was still quite epic. It was sort of a goldfish game but still it was still a fun game for me for a goldfish game.
We finished that game off and went to play a game of Emperor EDH at which point the Karador player refused to play the game if I was going to run Jenara lol. I felt a bit bad so I moved to Marton.
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[Modern] Allies
Ha thanks. That reminds me, you inspired me to run Stonecloaker. It is far superior to Scavenging Ooze and I definitely want to make the switch. Aside from it being instant speed, it lets you rebuy Farhaven Elf or Stoneforge Mystic. This is a good change.
@Omar - your Rasputin deck seemed very good. I'd love to get us in a game with 2 other super competitive players so it's not me playing against you. Sean and Tom have competitive decks.
@ISBPathfinder -- that's pretty sick. And way to cheat with Lurking Predators. It still has a spot in my list. Pact of Negation is definitely the best counter in the format too, as we very much know.
Merged posts. -ISB
I also include discussions about cards we took out, cards we banned, and cards we might add.
And yes the goldfish game was quite amusing but I sort of felt bad for just stomping them so hard...
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[Modern] Allies
Crap! like I needed to help you improve YOUR deck
I'm definitely up for that 4 player game. Would be sick, however, Tom isn't convinced of the quality of Rasputin !
Qualified for Pro Tour Paris - Dec 2010 NYC PTQ
Winning draft deck (horrible, I know!)
Top 8: NY States 2004 with G/B Death Cloud
banner by [Zaphod] High~Light Studios!!
Currently playing:
EDH: UWRasputin
BGR Adun CMDRDecks Video Deck Tech
Monday Night Meetup in NYC