Judging by it's name (Sliverblade Paladin) - it looks like we are going to get a Knight creature card from AVR
There's a good chance it might be equipment/artifact related or a potentially double-strike/deals combat damage to player get +1/+1 etc.
I believe we shouldn't discuss rumours (this should be reliable news seeing there is a source/mods has not removed it from the rumors thread) here but just wish to share this great news with fellow knight enthusiasts. It's pretty exciting as we haven't had a decent knight for some time. Sorry in advance for making a big fuss over this.
Judging by it's name (Sliverblade Paladin) - it looks like we are going to get a Knight creature card from AVR
Unfortunately, it will probably be another combat-oriented Knight with protection from red or protection from creature types like Elite Inquisitor. We could use a Knight hatebear. Depending on what it does, and if it is well-costed, it could replace one of the existing knights in this deck archetype.
Unfortunately, it will probably be another combat-oriented Knight with protection from red or protection from creature types like Elite Inquisitor. We could use a Knight hatebear. Depending on what it does, and if it is well-costed, it could replace one of the existing knights in this deck archetype.
Unfortunately I don't think there is much chance of it being a hatebear although I certainly hope it'll be!
Let's hope we'll have an headache in our knight selections when it is eventually released!
Meanwhile, below is the Puresteel knight update (still WIP) I'll be adding to the primer:
It’s very similar to what have been drafted out by the original pilots AEIOUsometimesY and Nixx.
Should we play the Blinkmoth? We’ll be messed up though if it is one of the 2 lands in our opening hand.
Revoker in the sideboard purely to stop manlands and planeswalkers and partly because I happened to have an extra slot. Meta call as I could replace all Leonins for 2 Revoker or work the other way round.
The traditional puresteel decks relies on dropping Puresteel Paladin and casting equipments quickly to generate incredible CA and eventually equip at no cost(with metacraft attained) on a living creature/creature or Inkmoth Nexus to swing for the win quickly. Some variants splashes U for a trinket mage toolbox. As such, it is a deck which can get explosive very swiftly and suddenly out of nowhere.
Puresteel knights is not a traditional puresteel equipment deck thus it's mode of play is not purely based on casting puresteel and rushing to drop cheap and low cost equipments or living equipments. It has a more resilient matchup then its traditional counterpart as the deck is not entirely dependant on drawing puresteel which usually fold easily when it loses puresteel to removals or counters.
As such it is a mid-range aggro deck which thrives on having puresteel in the deck. It is also less vulnerable to creature board wipes since we do not need to overextend our board with creatures. We are also not as badly affected against artifact board wipe spells. Knight Exemplar also provides Puresteel knights with an aura of indestructibility.
Therefore the choices of equipments is also different, equipments are selected because of their low casting cost and also their ability to enhance a knight considerably. Due to the sheer power of swords equipments and its 3cc, the other equipment choices can only be at most 1cc with low equip costs in order to curve out properly.
With this criteria in place, choice are pretty limited, below is the equipments list which is worth playing so far.
Star equipments for Puresteel
Silver-Inlaid Dagger
Equipped on a human can make our first strike knight close to invincible in creature combat.
Basilisk Collar
Deathtouch on a first strike knight and lifegain is especially useful for a mid-range aggro deck.
Sword of Fire and Ice
One of the best swords around. Many red removals in modern at the moment. CA is also massive.
Sword of Light and Shadow
Useful lifelink, black/white are very popular removal spells and returning a creature from graveyard is also CA.
Should we play the Blinkmoth? We’ll be messed up though if it is one of the 2 lands in our opening hand.
Revoker in the sideboard purely to stop manlands and planeswalkers and partly because I happened to have an extra slot. Meta call as I could replace all Leonins for 2 Revoker or work the other way round.
The traditional puresteel decks relies on dropping Puresteel Paladin and casting equipments quickly to generate incredible CA and eventually equip at no cost(with metacraft attained) on a living creature/creature or Inkmoth Nexus to swing for the win quickly. Some variants splashes U for a trinket mage toolbox. As such, it is a deck which can get explosive very swiftly and suddenly out of nowhere.
Puresteel knights is not a traditional puresteel equipment deck thus it's mode of play is not purely based on casting puresteel and rushing to drop cheap and low cost equipments or living equipments. It has a more resilient matchup then its traditional counterpart as the deck is not entirely dependant on drawing puresteel which usually fold easily when it loses puresteel to removals or counters.
As such it is a mid-range aggro deck which thrives on having puresteel in the deck. It is also less vulnerable to creature board wipes since we do not need to overextend our board with creatures. We are also not as badly affected against artifact board wipe spells. Knight Exemplar also provides Puresteel knights with an aura of indestructibility.
Therefore the choices of equipments is also different, equipments are selected because of their low casting cost and also their ability to enhance a knight considerably. Due to the sheer power of swords equipments and its 3cc, the other equipment choices can only be at most 1cc with low equip costs in order to curve out properly.
With this criteria in place, choice are pretty limited, below is the equipments list which is worth playing so far.
Star equipments for Puresteel
Silver-Inlaid Dagger
Equipped on a human can make our first strike knight close to invincible in creature combat.
Basilisk Collar
Deathtouch on a first strike knight and lifegain is especially useful for a mid-range aggro deck.
Sword of Fire and Ice
One of the best swords around. Many red removals in modern at the moment. CA is also massive.
Sword of Light and Shadow
Useful lifelink, black/white are very popular removal spells and returning a creature from graveyard is also CA.
- I was underwhelmed by Blinkmoth Nexus when I ran it...it usually messed up my early drops if I didn't hit Vial, or it never got activated because the deck is mana hungry for the early turns. Again, if this was a pure Puresteel deck, and we weren't worrying about the Knight theme, then I would run 4x Blinkmoth with zero hesitation. I think if we're looking for metalcraft, Darksteel Citadel is probably better off here. Unfortunately, this deck isn't Affinity, so it's hard to run several colorless manlands.
- Ethersworn Canonist pretty much has to be in the sideboard as a 3 or 4-of. It's too good for things like Storm/Jund/whatever decks like to spam a lot of stuff (not Affinity), and it doesn't hurt us much. Plus, it's an artifact and a human!
- Phyrexian Revoker is pretty underwhelming these days, and I dropped it from my 75 pretty quickly...but I won't fault someone for running it. We have enough removal at our disposal if we're really worrying about something like manlands.
- Sword of Light and Shadow has pretty much fallen out of favor recently, as the effects are pretty weak, and the protection isn't that relavent in Modern. SoFI is pretty much the best, and SoFaF out of the board really helps against Jund and other aggro decks featuring green beaters. I actually thing SoBM is pretty underrated here, as Tarmogoyf/Delver of Secrets/Snapcaster Mage are pretty ubiquitous in the format.
- Brave the Elements is OK, but I just never found room for it in Puresteel builds...I find it a little more useful in traditional builds where more creatures are hitting the board. I would probably dedicate a few more spots to combatting storm in its place (Rule of Law? Silence?). Leyline helps, but not against Empty the Warrens, and Echoing Truth still hurts.
- I was underwhelmed by Blinkmoth Nexus when I ran it...it usually messed up my early drops if I didn't hit Vial, or it never got activated because the deck is mana hungry for the early turns. Again, if this was a pure Puresteel deck, and we weren't worrying about the Knight theme, then I would run 4x Blinkmoth with zero hesitation. I think if we're looking for metalcraft, Darksteel Citadel is probably better off here. Unfortunately, this deck isn't Affinity, so it's hard to run several colorless manlands.
- Ethersworn Canonist pretty much has to be in the sideboard as a 3 or 4-of. It's too good for things like Storm/Jund/whatever decks like to spam a lot of stuff (not Affinity), and it doesn't hurt us much. Plus, it's an artifact and a human!
- Phyrexian Revoker is pretty underwhelming these days, and I dropped it from my 75 pretty quickly...but I won't fault someone for running it. We have enough removal at our disposal if we're really worrying about something like manlands.
- Sword of Light and Shadow has pretty much fallen out of favor recently, as the effects are pretty weak, and the protection isn't that relavent in Modern. SoFI is pretty much the best, and SoFaF out of the board really helps against Jund and other aggro decks featuring green beaters. I actually thing SoBM is pretty underrated here, as Tarmogoyf/Delver of Secrets/Snapcaster Mage are pretty ubiquitous in the format.
- Brave the Elements is OK, but I just never found room for it in Puresteel builds...I find it a little more useful in traditional builds where more creatures are hitting the board. I would probably dedicate a few more spots to combatting storm in its place (Rule of Law? Silence?). Leyline helps, but not against Empty the Warrens, and Echoing Truth still hurts.
Great! Thanks for the inputs!
I guess we can do away with Blinkmoth totally. I wanted to have additional creatures if possible, and it would also have been an additional equipment carrier, but obviously not at the expense of reducing deck consistency or density.
Sword of Light and Shadow to be replaced by Sword of Feast and Famine. I understand your point about Sword of Body and Mind's protection, but would still prefer a combination of SoFF and SoFI. SoBM mill effects has backfired against me before and the additional wolf while useful, is pretty meh..
Otherwise, I guess the rest of the sideboard is probably a meta call. I'll continue to keep Brave the Elements at the moment - no thanks to the massive amount of removals flying around in my meta.
@ AEIOUsometimesY & Nixx
I have credited both you and Nixx on the decklist, do let me know if you have any issues with this, or you think the decklist need any amending(sideboard is a meta call).
Thanks for the update of the Primer (and the mentioning of my name).
My experiences Student of Warfare v.s. Sun Titan:
The effect of Sun Titan is great. If Sun Titan hits the battlefield, there is usually a creature in my graveyard. However it needs to hit the battlefield.
Against green/black deck (in general) Mirran Crusader is the MVP and most of the time the game is allready over before I have 6 lands.
Against blue decks (in general) I won't cast it because most of the time it gets countered.
Against red deck: Those decks are generally fast. Before I hit 6 lands either of us are on or below 0 lives.
Against white decks the Sun Titan can get cast. But 1 out of 5 is too bad for me.
Brave the Elements:
Excellent card to counter burn, destroy and bounce spells.
Sword of Light and Shadow:
The effect of Sword of Light and Shadow and indeed underwhelming. The effect is great, but most of the time I don't have any creatures in my graveyard.
Sejiri Steppe:
The effect of Sejiri Steppe can give a knight protection from any color. The drawback is that the land comes into play tapped. Therefore the drawback is greater then the advantage. The deck is very mana hungry for the first 3 turns.
Oblivion Ring:
Sideboard card. Excellent against pesty plainswalkers. I use 3 in my sideboard.
No problem.;) You and AEIOUsometimesY both came out with the decklist around the same time and it's only right to credit you guys with the creation.
I guess Sword of Light and Shadow is out of the running, I must have loss track of the meta, it was still relevant a few weeks ago
Sejiri Steppe - Drawback aside, since there is no way to cheat the land into play, we can't play it in response to a removal or as a combat trick. I believe the land is only playable with Knight of the Reliquary.
Oblivion Ring or Leonin Relic-warder for the sideboard I guess. Relic-warder cannot handle planeswalkers effectively though. Oblivion is better though, as I do not want to wrath my own Leonin! :rolleyes:,
Oblivion Ring IN, Relic-warder OUT!
BTW I think I need some work on the introduction and equipments choices. Any comments will be appreciated.
Just spitballing here, but I really like Ghostly Prison in the sideboard as well (for all versions of Knights). Helps out against Goblin spam in storm (Leyline handles Grapeshot), stops Exarch/Twin, slows Affinity, and is a general nuisance against all the other aggro/tempo decks (Caw-blade/Jund/Zoo/etc). I realize most decks have ways to deal with Enchantments, but it still seems like a solid card against most matchups. My only question is whether or not it's worth running it when it slows us down a turn as well (though Vial helps)...I think avoiding an autoloss is better than slowing a potential win, but that's just me.
My general sideboard against an unknown meta at this point would probably look something like:
Angel's Grace could be useful against Storm and something like Hive Mind, but what else do you bring it in against?
Storm was the only thing that came to mind when I thought of that card as a sideboard. In the casual games I played, storm and small combos were the tactics that my GW Knights deck has no real way of dealing with. Unfortunately, my lack of tournament experience does not help me assess cards very well. I defer to the experience of you and the others on this.
Based on your SB list, I guess my conflict centers around Leyline of Sanctity vs. [CARD]Angel's Grace
[/CARD]. Which is more versatile in an unknown meta?
My personal choice is Leyline of Sanctity.
Good against:
Burn
Blightning
Discard
Gifts Ungiven (haven't thought about that...)
Grapeshot
Inquisition of Kozilek
Thoughtseize
I agree. Leyline is just so useful at providing a little speed bump against some of the top decks. It also doesn't hurt that it's especially useful in an environment where many budget players come to tournaments with RDW or MBC decks. Neither deck really has a way to deal with Leyline and they just sit there while you autowin.
2x Jund
2x Affinity
1x Melira
1x Aggro Loam (did not see that coming)
1x Faeries
1x UW Tron
And honestly, I think I like matchups against most of those. I'm mainly worried about various combos, but they seemed to be either hated out, or just not strong enough. The Loam deck (which people will probably flock to in droves) has no outs to Leyline (EDIT: 2x Nature's Claim SB, oh well). Affinity is still good, but that can always be hated out properly. I haven't played much against Faeries or Tron, but an early Vial seems pretty vital there.
Just spitballing here, but I really like Ghostly Prison in the sideboard as well (for all versions of Knights). Helps out against Goblin spam in storm (Leyline handles Grapeshot), stops Exarch/Twin, slows Affinity, and is a general nuisance against all the other aggro/tempo decks (Caw-blade/Jund/Zoo/etc). I realize most decks have ways to deal with Enchantments, but it still seems like a solid card against most matchups. My only question is whether or not it's worth running it when it slows us down a turn as well (though Vial helps)...I think avoiding an autoloss is better than slowing a potential win, but that's just me.
My general sideboard against an unknown meta at this point would probably look something like:
Very Solid and well thought out sideboard choices.
I like Ghostly Prison inside the sideboard. I always felt so helpless against Storm goblins & Twin combo so its nice to know we have an solution against it.
My personal choice is Leyline of Sanctity.
Good against:
Burn
Blightning
Discard
Gifts Ungiven (haven't thought about that...)
Grapeshot
Inquisition of Kozilek
Thoughtseize
Leyline of Sanctity simply covers way too much ground and should be considered as an auto sideboard choice at the moment.
2x Jund
2x Affinity
1x Melira
1x Aggro Loam (did not see that coming)
1x Faeries
1x UW Tron
And honestly, I think I like matchups against most of those. I'm mainly worried about various combos, but they seemed to be either hated out, or just not strong enough. The Loam deck (which people will probably flock to in droves) has no outs to Leyline. Affinity is still good, but that can always be hated out properly. I haven't played much against Faeries or Tron, but an early Vial seems pretty vital there.
I played against Faeries, UW Tron and Affinity. And we actually have a decent matchups(even without opening hand vial!) against these 3 deck types. I'll put in some of my matchups against them shortly.
I agree with Nixx. If you get a Vial in your opening hand, cast it first. That is why you have 3-4 Vials in the deck. It's not because the duplicates are dead draws. It's because you want a good chance of it being in your opening hand.
If there was a more reliable draw engine, duplicate Vials wouldn't hurt as much if you draw them later in the game.
I agree with Nixx. If you get a Vial in your opening hand, cast it first. That is why you have 3-4 Vials in the deck. It's not because the duplicates are dead draws. It's because you want a good chance of it being in your opening hand.
If there was a more reliable draw engine, duplicate Vials wouldn't hurt as much if you draw them later in the game.
Same here. I agree with Eriol who agrees with Nixx.
I'll go for Aether Vial first because of the tempo advantage that comes with an opening hand vial.
I'll only cast student first if I'm absolutely sure I'll be pumping him to level 2 on the second turn and quite sure that my opponent's deck is low on removal.
Otherwise a level 2 Student eating a removal on turn 2 effectively means we had totally wasted our opening two turns.
I did use Brave the Elements when my deck was in Standard, but it never really worked out for much (Most of the time, I'd rather have removal, and when I was casting it to attack ftw, I'd probably win anyways.)
Back when we could play Standard Knights during the Zendikar block, there were lesser removal choices(with a smaller set pool).
Therefore Brave the Elements is much more relevant here in protecting our creatures compared to back then.
The problem is that a lot of removal is used in Modern decks.
I run 4 Path to Exile to exile the most dangerous creatures.
My other "removal" is my untapped Vial and Mirran Crusader or Knight Exemplar in my hand.
My deck is centered around evasion to win. Evasion is done by having or giving protection to my knights. Giving protection is done by my swords and they are dependant on the metagame.
Due to the abundant removal it can happen that opponents react on the equipping of a sword.
What happened to me lately:
Mirran Crusader, Sword of Fire and Ice, Vial @ 3 and a few Plains on the table.
Tap two Plains to equip SoFI to Mirran Crusader. Opponent responds by tapping Mountain to Lightning Bolt my Crusader. I respond by tapping the Vial to bring Knight Exemplar onto the battlefield. That one resolves and opponent reacts to Path my Knight Exemplar. I responded by Brave the Elements on white. *Opponent disconnected*
That's right. There are simply too many cheap and effective removals running around in Modern.
There are decks which run insane number of removals so much so I can have my whole board wiped out by single target removal spells :rolleyes:.
That's when our Knight Exemplar and Brave the Elements comes into the picture. Also when one of the better knights is able to evade eminent destruction, it tends to easily tilt the advantage over to our side.
@Nixx- Knights Rocks! You opponent should at the very least type - "GG. Thanks for the game"
I have noticed a little shift towards red instead of black.
However Mirran Crusader is still far above Paladin-en-Vec due to the double strike. I consider Mirran Crusader my MVP in my deck.
But Nixx's version of Knights is the Puresteel so he has added incentive to abuse the double-strike ability.
The double-strike may not be that crucial for our non-equipment build thus it might be better for us to have the relevant protection colors.
@Nixx - am I correct on the knight list you are currently using?
2 Disenchant
We'll still get slaughtered by Etched champion since we can't aim the spells at champion and I doubt we can get opponent below metacraft with this so I'm not sure of this card. Since we still need some help against Artifacts/enchantments - I'll probably go for 2 since we also have Oblivion Ring to handle them.
Just spitballing here, but I really like Ghostly Prison in the sideboard as well (for all versions of Knights). Helps out against Goblin spam in storm (Leyline handles Grapeshot), stops Exarch/Twin, slows Affinity, and is a general nuisance against all the other aggro/tempo decks (Caw-blade/Jund/Zoo/etc). I realize most decks have ways to deal with Enchantments, but it still seems like a solid card against most matchups. My only question is whether or not it's worth running it when it slows us down a turn as well (though Vial helps)...I think avoiding an autoloss is better than slowing a potential win, but that's just me.
My general sideboard against an unknown meta at this point would probably look something like:
Relic of Progenitus is also solid as a sideboard card, and use that pretty often in place of Surgical Extraction, depending on what I am up against. Relic takes care of pretty much everything SE does, it just depends whether or not you want the "extraction" part of it. I like Relic for shrinking opposing 'Goyfs and KotRs, for removing Past in Flames, dealing with Iona reanimator, etc. And, in a Puresteel build, contributes to metalcraft. If you can get it down early enough, you might be able to keep your opponent's graveyard empty the entire game, depending on what kind of deck they are playing (most of our removal exiles, anyway).
I have only seen Etched Champion cast/played when Metalcraft is already active or becomes active with the Champion itself. Board wipe cards seem to be the only cards that are effective at that point (i.e. Wrath of God). I don't think Disenchant is good as a SB in that particular respect.
I'm usually not worried if I can't block a 3 mana 2/2...my artifact destruction is usually aimed right at their Cranial Platings and Master of Etheriums.
EDIT: I just wish we had a little better acceleration, because Fracturing Gust is a hilarious blowout against Affinity...I've used it in Elves decks with great success.
EDIT: I just wish we had a little better acceleration, because Fracturing Gust is a hilarious blowout against Affinity...I've used it in Elves decks with great success.
I have only seen Etched Champion cast/played when Metalcraft is already active or becomes active with the Champion itself. Board wipe cards seem to be the only cards that are effective at that point (i.e. Wrath of God). I don't think Disenchant is good as a SB in that particular respect.
Spot on with regards to Etched Champion. That guy is almost impossible to remove once he hits the field. I'm normally resigned to taking the 2 damage per turn from him.
But - this is where Knight of Meadowgrain lifegain comes in. I tend to be more careful about preserving this knight in my matchups against Affinity.
I'm usually not worried if I can't block a 3 mana 2/2...my artifact destruction is usually aimed right at their Cranial Platings and Master of Etheriums.
I'm more worried we can't get GG for Creeping Corrosion by the fourth turn!
I think having 4 Qasali Pridemage & some Oblivion Ring in maindeck and 2-3 further artifact hate in the sideboard should more than suffice.
I have played against many variants of affinity, such as the likes of W, RW, Tezzert affinity, and unless they have a god hand, we usually have sufficient answers to deal with them.
Knight of Meadowgrain - lifegain is very relevant in modern, with R burn and aggro decks flying around. An indestructible Knight of Meadowgrain with Knight of Exemplar can quickly get us insurmountable amount of life.
Phyrexian Metamorph - Can copy Etched Champion - lets hope we have metacraft too! (although unlikely). Anyway he is there so we can kill legends! Good against the Urza Tron decks. More like a utility spell as we also have good creatures in our deck to copy with.
Sword of Light and Shadow - I know it has been discussed before on this, but I have had too much success and fun with this sword to simply discard it. Recycling my Metamorph after it has taken out a Legend or Pridemage after it has destroyed an artifact is simply incredible.
Some explanations of choices in sideboard:
I'm quite happy to leave out further artifact hate, since there is already 6 in mainboard.
I tend to fail in using Surgical Extraction effectively :embarrass:, so I'll go for Relic.
I'm more worried we can't get gg for Creeping Corrosion by the fourth turn!
I think having 4 Qasali Pridemage & some Oblivion Ring in maindeck and 2-3 further artifact hate in the sideboard should more than suffice.
-------------
Phyrexian Metamorph - Can copy Etched Champion - lets hope we have metacraft too! (although unlikely). Anyway he is there so we can kill legends! Good against the Urza Tron decks. More like a utility spell as we also have good creatures in our deck to copy with.
Point taken about Creeping Corrosion. I think Krosan grip might be useful, since it is an instant and block additional spells and abilities on the stack.
In regards to copying our own creatures, we have previously discussed Phyrexian Metamorph as Knight Exemplar 5-6. If we have one Knight Exemplar on the battlefield, having these two cards increases are chances to create the Exemplar lock.
Judging by it's name (Sliverblade Paladin) - it looks like we are going to get a Knight creature card from AVR
There's a good chance it might be equipment/artifact related or a potentially double-strike/deals combat damage to player get +1/+1 etc.
I believe we shouldn't discuss rumours (this should be reliable news seeing there is a source/mods has not removed it from the rumors thread) here but just wish to share this great news with fellow knight enthusiasts. It's pretty exciting as we haven't had a decent knight for some time. Sorry in advance for making a big fuss over this.
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
Unfortunately, it will probably be another combat-oriented Knight with protection from red or protection from creature types like Elite Inquisitor. We could use a Knight hatebear.
Unfortunately I don't think there is much chance of it being a hatebear although I certainly hope it'll be!
Let's hope we'll have an headache in our knight selections when it is eventually released!
Meanwhile, below is the Puresteel knight update (still WIP) I'll be adding to the primer:
It’s very similar to what have been drafted out by the original pilots AEIOUsometimesY and Nixx.
4x Student of Warfare
4x Knight of the White Orchid
4x Puresteel Paladin
4x Knight Exemplar
4x Mirran Crusader
Spells (20):
2x Brave the Elements
4x Aether Vial
4x Path to Exile
4x Silver-Inlaid Dagger
2x Basilisk Collar
2x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
18x Plains
2x Blinkmoth Nexus
4x Leyline of Sanctity
3x Wrath of God
2x Brave the elements
2x Dispatch
2x Leonin Relic-warder
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
Brief Introduction.
The traditional puresteel decks relies on dropping Puresteel Paladin and casting equipments quickly to generate incredible CA and eventually equip at no cost(with metacraft attained) on a living creature/creature or Inkmoth Nexus to swing for the win quickly. Some variants splashes U for a trinket mage toolbox. As such, it is a deck which can get explosive very swiftly and suddenly out of nowhere.
Puresteel knights is not a traditional puresteel equipment deck thus it's mode of play is not purely based on casting puresteel and rushing to drop cheap and low cost equipments or living equipments. It has a more resilient matchup then its traditional counterpart as the deck is not entirely dependant on drawing puresteel which usually fold easily when it loses puresteel to removals or counters.
As such it is a mid-range aggro deck which thrives on having puresteel in the deck. It is also less vulnerable to creature board wipes since we do not need to overextend our board with creatures. We are also not as badly affected against artifact board wipe spells. Knight Exemplar also provides Puresteel knights with an aura of indestructibility.
Therefore the choices of equipments is also different, equipments are selected because of their low casting cost and also their ability to enhance a knight considerably. Due to the sheer power of swords equipments and its 3cc, the other equipment choices can only be at most 1cc with low equip costs in order to curve out properly.
With this criteria in place, choice are pretty limited, below is the equipments list which is worth playing so far.
Star equipments for Puresteel
Silver-Inlaid Dagger
Equipped on a human can make our first strike knight close to invincible in creature combat.
Basilisk Collar
Deathtouch on a first strike knight and lifegain is especially useful for a mid-range aggro deck.
Sword of Fire and Ice
One of the best swords around. Many red removals in modern at the moment. CA is also massive.
Sword of Light and Shadow
Useful lifelink, black/white are very popular removal spells and returning a creature from graveyard is also CA.
Second choice equips -
depending on the meta
Sword of Feast and Famine
Sword of War and Peace
increase/decrease speed or explosiveness of the deck
Bone Saw
BoneSplitter
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
Don't have much time now, but a few comments:
- I was underwhelmed by Blinkmoth Nexus when I ran it...it usually messed up my early drops if I didn't hit Vial, or it never got activated because the deck is mana hungry for the early turns. Again, if this was a pure Puresteel deck, and we weren't worrying about the Knight theme, then I would run 4x Blinkmoth with zero hesitation. I think if we're looking for metalcraft, Darksteel Citadel is probably better off here. Unfortunately, this deck isn't Affinity, so it's hard to run several colorless manlands.
- Ethersworn Canonist pretty much has to be in the sideboard as a 3 or 4-of. It's too good for things like Storm/Jund/whatever decks like to spam a lot of stuff (not Affinity), and it doesn't hurt us much. Plus, it's an artifact and a human!
- Phyrexian Revoker is pretty underwhelming these days, and I dropped it from my 75 pretty quickly...but I won't fault someone for running it. We have enough removal at our disposal if we're really worrying about something like manlands.
- Sword of Light and Shadow has pretty much fallen out of favor recently, as the effects are pretty weak, and the protection isn't that relavent in Modern. SoFI is pretty much the best, and SoFaF out of the board really helps against Jund and other aggro decks featuring green beaters. I actually thing SoBM is pretty underrated here, as Tarmogoyf/Delver of Secrets/Snapcaster Mage are pretty ubiquitous in the format.
- Brave the Elements is OK, but I just never found room for it in Puresteel builds...I find it a little more useful in traditional builds where more creatures are hitting the board. I would probably dedicate a few more spots to combatting storm in its place (Rule of Law? Silence?). Leyline helps, but not against Empty the Warrens, and Echoing Truth still hurts.
Great! Thanks for the inputs!
I guess we can do away with Blinkmoth totally. I wanted to have additional creatures if possible, and it would also have been an additional equipment carrier, but obviously not at the expense of reducing deck consistency or density.
Ethersworn Canonist to come in for Phyrexian Revoker.
Sword of Light and Shadow to be replaced by Sword of Feast and Famine. I understand your point about Sword of Body and Mind's protection, but would still prefer a combination of SoFF and SoFI. SoBM mill effects has backfired against me before and the additional wolf while useful, is pretty meh..
Otherwise, I guess the rest of the sideboard is probably a meta call. I'll continue to keep Brave the Elements at the moment - no thanks to the massive amount of removals flying around in my meta.
@ AEIOUsometimesY & Nixx
I have credited both you and Nixx on the decklist, do let me know if you have any issues with this, or you think the decklist need any amending(sideboard is a meta call).
4x Student of Warfare
4x Knight of the White Orchid
4x Puresteel Paladin
4x Knight Exemplar
4x Mirran Crusader
Spells (20):
2x Brave the Elements
4x Aether Vial
4x Path to Exile
4x Silver-Inlaid Dagger
2x Basilisk Collar
2x Sword of Fire and Ice
2x Sword of Feast and Famine
20x Plains
4x Leyline of Sanctity
3x Wrath of God
2x Dispatch
2x Leonin Relic-warder
4x Ethersworn Canonist
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
No problem.;) You and AEIOUsometimesY both came out with the decklist around the same time and it's only right to credit you guys with the creation.
Well, seems Sun Titan is not that necessary.
I guess Sword of Light and Shadow is out of the running, I must have loss track of the meta, it was still relevant a few weeks ago
Sejiri Steppe - Drawback aside, since there is no way to cheat the land into play, we can't play it in response to a removal or as a combat trick. I believe the land is only playable with Knight of the Reliquary.
Oblivion Ring or Leonin Relic-warder for the sideboard I guess. Relic-warder cannot handle planeswalkers effectively though. Oblivion is better though, as I do not want to wrath my own Leonin! :rolleyes:,
Oblivion Ring IN, Relic-warder OUT!
BTW I think I need some work on the introduction and equipments choices. Any comments will be appreciated.
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
My general sideboard against an unknown meta at this point would probably look something like:
2x Day of Judgment (Against affinity/aggro)
3x Ghostly Prison (See above explanation)
4x Leyline of Sanctity (Storm/Burn/Discard/Jund -- if they still run Blightning)
3x Disenchant (Generally useful...could be Divine Offering)
3x Surgical Extraction (If we're worried about SCM, Past in Flames, or Ancient Grudge...could be another hate-bear)
Those are interesting choices, and possibly better than my idea of including Angel's Grace for a unknown meta sideboard card.
Angel's Grace could be useful against Storm and something like Hive Mind, but what else do you bring it in against?
EDIT:
O-Ring is a fine card...I absolutely would have no problem running it in my SB.
Storm was the only thing that came to mind when I thought of that card as a sideboard. In the casual games I played, storm and small combos were the tactics that my GW Knights deck has no real way of dealing with. Unfortunately, my lack of tournament experience does not help me assess cards very well. I defer to the experience of you and the others on this.
Based on your SB list, I guess my conflict centers around Leyline of Sanctity vs. [CARD]Angel's Grace
[/CARD]. Which is more versatile in an unknown meta?
I agree. Leyline is just so useful at providing a little speed bump against some of the top decks. It also doesn't hurt that it's especially useful in an environment where many budget players come to tournaments with RDW or MBC decks. Neither deck really has a way to deal with Leyline and they just sit there while you autowin.
2x Jund
2x Affinity
1x Melira
1x Aggro Loam (did not see that coming)
1x Faeries
1x UW Tron
And honestly, I think I like matchups against most of those. I'm mainly worried about various combos, but they seemed to be either hated out, or just not strong enough. The Loam deck (which people will probably flock to in droves) has no outs to Leyline (EDIT: 2x Nature's Claim SB, oh well). Affinity is still good, but that can always be hated out properly. I haven't played much against Faeries or Tron, but an early Vial seems pretty vital there.
Very Solid and well thought out sideboard choices.
I like Ghostly Prison inside the sideboard. I always felt so helpless against Storm goblins & Twin combo so its nice to know we have an solution against it.
Leyline of Sanctity simply covers way too much ground and should be considered as an auto sideboard choice at the moment.
+1
That's really some solid sideboarding advice from Nixx and AEIOUsometimesY.
Thanks very much for the contributions!;)
I played against Faeries, UW Tron and Affinity. And we actually have a decent matchups(even without opening hand vial!) against these 3 deck types. I'll put in some of my matchups against them shortly.
The Faeries I played against was UG Faeries.
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
If there was a more reliable draw engine, duplicate Vials wouldn't hurt as much if you draw them later in the game.
Same here. I agree with Eriol who agrees with Nixx.
I'll go for Aether Vial first because of the tempo advantage that comes with an opening hand vial.
I'll only cast student first if I'm absolutely sure I'll be pumping him to level 2 on the second turn and quite sure that my opponent's deck is low on removal.
Otherwise a level 2 Student eating a removal on turn 2 effectively means we had totally wasted our opening two turns.
Back when we could play Standard Knights during the Zendikar block, there were lesser removal choices(with a smaller set pool).
Therefore Brave the Elements is much more relevant here in protecting our creatures compared to back then.
That's right. There are simply too many cheap and effective removals running around in Modern.
There are decks which run insane number of removals so much so I can have my whole board wiped out by single target removal spells :rolleyes:.
That's when our Knight Exemplar and Brave the Elements comes into the picture. Also when one of the better knights is able to evade eminent destruction, it tends to easily tilt the advantage over to our side.
@Nixx- Knights Rocks! You opponent should at the very least type - "GG. Thanks for the game"
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
I noticed Nixx is packing Mirran Crusader (protection from black and green).
Does Paladin-en-Vec (protection from red and black) have any relevancy?
I think opponents like the fact we are a "honest" & "fair" deck.
Moreover, it's refreshing to come up against a decklist which is not repeated and yet reasonably competitive.
Red burn seems to be gaining in popularity in my meta too.
But I'm still undecided over the choice of en-vec or Mirran at the moment.
But Nixx's version of Knights is the Puresteel so he has added incentive to abuse the double-strike ability.
The double-strike may not be that crucial for our non-equipment build thus it might be better for us to have the relevant protection colors.
@Nixx - am I correct on the knight list you are currently using?
4 Leyline of Sanctity
No brainer since we want to see it in our opening hand.
So effectively we have only 11 sideboard cards left:
2 Wrath of GodAgainst Tokens, Zoo or Living End etc - I'm happy to play 2.
2 Oblivion Ring
Answer to any permanents.
2 Disenchant
We'll still get slaughtered by Etched champion since we can't aim the spells at champion and I doubt we can get opponent below metacraft with this so I'm not sure of this card. Since we still need some help against Artifacts/enchantments - I'll probably go for 2 since we also have Oblivion Ring to handle them.
3 Surgical Extraction
Not sure I have anything new to say about this card.
4 Ghostly Prison
Since we have no slots left and I think it is unwise to play a mixture of 2 wrath and Prison each, therefore I'll go for 4x Prison.
I'm quite curious on playing both Ghostly Prison and Wrath of God. Just that we can cast Prison a turn earlier than Wrath.
Below is the post made recently by AEIOUsometimesY which I dig out to recap:
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
EDIT: I just wish we had a little better acceleration, because Fracturing Gust is a hilarious blowout against Affinity...I've used it in Elves decks with great success.
Creeping Corrosion for a GW Knights or too slow?
Hmm, for GW Knights, I would probably have this sideboard to start.
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Ghostly Prison
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Krosan Grip or Disenchant
3 Relic of Progenitus or Nihil Spellbomb (I'm too poor at the moment for Surgical Extraction)
Spot on with regards to Etched Champion. That guy is almost impossible to remove once he hits the field. I'm normally resigned to taking the 2 damage per turn from him.
But - this is where Knight of Meadowgrain lifegain comes in. I tend to be more careful about preserving this knight in my matchups against Affinity.
I usually try to use Knight of Meadowgrain to offset the damages from Etched Champion.
I'll also aim my artifact D at Cranial Plating as it is the card which can wipe out your life totals in a few hits.
I'm more worried we can't get GG for Creeping Corrosion by the fourth turn!
I think having 4 Qasali Pridemage & some Oblivion Ring in maindeck and 2-3 further artifact hate in the sideboard should more than suffice.
I have played against many variants of affinity, such as the likes of W, RW, Tezzert affinity, and unless they have a god hand, we usually have sufficient answers to deal with them.
Is that a hint to update the primer?
GW Knights Decklist updated in OP!!!:)
4 Knight Exemplar
3 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Knight of the White Orchid
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Student of Warfare
Spells [6]
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Path to Exile
Artifacts [7]
4 AEther Vial
2 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Arid Mesa
2 Forest
3 Horizon Canopy
1 Marsh Flats
10 Plains
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Tectonic Edge
2 Temple Garden
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Brave the Elements
1 Bojuka Bog
3 Ghostly Prison
4 Relic of Progenitus
Some explanations of choices in maindeck:
Knight of Meadowgrain - lifegain is very relevant in modern, with R burn and aggro decks flying around. An indestructible Knight of Meadowgrain with Knight of Exemplar can quickly get us insurmountable amount of life.
Phyrexian Metamorph - Can copy Etched Champion - lets hope we have metacraft too! (although unlikely). Anyway he is there so we can kill legends! Good against the Urza Tron decks. More like a utility spell as we also have good creatures in our deck to copy with.
4x Qasali Pridemage - To deal with Affinity. Mainly to take out the pesky Cranial Plating.
Sword of Light and Shadow - I know it has been discussed before on this, but I have had too much success and fun with this sword to simply discard it. Recycling my Metamorph after it has taken out a Legend or Pridemage after it has destroyed an artifact is simply incredible.
Some explanations of choices in sideboard:
I'm quite happy to leave out further artifact hate, since there is already 6 in mainboard.
I tend to fail in using Surgical Extraction effectively :embarrass:, so I'll go for Relic.
Signature by Syndarion from Aeternal Studios!
[Deck/Primer] Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Darth Knights in Legacy
[Deck] Casual Knights in Legacy
[Deck/Primer] Modern Knights
[Deck/Primer] Modern Ninjas
LEGACY
Legacy Knights Variants WG,WU,WR,WB,W,B
Soldiers Stompy W
NinjaStill UB
FOWless Merfolk UW
Aggro Elves G
MODERN
Modern Knights Variants WG,BR
Modern Ninjas Variants UB,UG,UW,UWR
Modern Kithkins WR,W
Point taken about Creeping Corrosion. I think Krosan grip might be useful, since it is an instant and block additional spells and abilities on the stack.
In regards to copying our own creatures, we have previously discussed Phyrexian Metamorph as Knight Exemplar 5-6. If we have one Knight Exemplar on the battlefield, having these two cards increases are chances to create the Exemplar lock.
Can Tormod's Crypt be used also? It is a timeshifted card, so it is legal in Modern. Is there a reason the other other two cards are preferred?