[Melira Pod deck] What do you think of my list?

[masterevil]

Hi, I would like to share my list with you. Any suggestions or critics will be welcome.

Deck
Lands 4x Misty Rainforest 4x Verdant Catacombs 2x Overgrown Tomb 1x Temple Garden 1x Godless Shrine 2x Wooded Bastion 1x Twilight Mire 1x Gemstone Caverns 1x Dryad Arbor 4x Forest 2x Swamp Creatures 4x Kitchen Finks 3x Viscera Seer 3x Melira, Sylvok Outcast 4x Birds of Paradise 4x Wall of Roots 2x Noble Hierarch 1x Murderous Redcap 1x Reveillark 1x Ranger of Eos 1x Body Double 1x Nekrataal 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence 1x Qasali Pridemage 1x Acidic Slime 1x Eternal Witness 1x Saffi Eriksdotter	Other spells 4x Birthing Pod 3x Chord of Calling	Sideboard 2x Kataki, War's Wage 2x Gaddock Teeg 2x Aven Mindcensor 2x Harmonic Sliver 2x Spellskite 2x Ethersworn Canonist 3x Leyline of Sanctity

[Yamikiri]

Looks decent. I would add a single Crypt Champion somewhere, just because of the fun combo's it can pull with Saffi.

[NavyJoe]

Needs 3 Fulminator Mage sb. That card is so brutal against 3 color decks and Tron it's not funny. Especially if you get to Pod out a Lark for a Titan. Speaking of Titan, he's a must in the deck. He brings back every combo piece. I've also since playing with Saffi, added in one Essence Warden in the deck or Chord of Calling up gives you multipe "infinite life" combos

Essence Warden
Sun Titan
Saffi
Seer

Essence Warden
Crypt Champion
Saffi

Essence Warden
Lark
Saffi
Seer

It's Project X w/ Melira combo. The reason for it is:

1. Gives you extra reach.
2. Most game 2's, people side in Extirpate/Surgical Extraction for Melira
3. It's hilarious to watch a Twin player eot a Exarch into play and cast Splinter Twin and they tap it to make a token, you Chord of Calling into Essence Warden

[masterevil]

Is it worth to play a Crypt Champion without red mana?
Which cards should I set out for a Sun Titan and an Essence Warden?
Is it worth to play any Thoughtseize?

How should I make my sideboard?

[Demon Zer0]

Crypt Champion is great without the red mana because he starts alone the sacrifice chain, and you don't need a sacrificae outlet,

[naykos]

how does the crypt champion combo works exactly?
also I dont like the leylines in the sb, I would play graveyard hate, probably surgical extraction

[Spoofed]

Crypt Champion etbs triggering its affect which brings back Saffi.
Crypt Champion sacrifice trigger goes on stack since no red mana was paid.
In response sacrifice Saffi to bring back Champion back when Champion's ability resolves.
Champion hits the graveyard and comes back due to Saffi's ability.
Champion hits the field and loops.

[ivansmashem]

Too much attempting to squeeze in a toolbox, IMO. Both Melira and Project X have been as successful as they were in the past because of how consistent they were. They would always run 4-of of the main combo pieces and run as many other ways (like Chord of Calling) as they could in order to hit their combo.

Your toolbox is better, but it's just forcing you to live longer and need more answers because you're delaying how long it will take you, on average, to actually assemble your combo and kill an opponent.

If you want to combine two combo decks for redundancy, the idea is to max out the first combo first, then begin adding other pieces for the secondary combo as they fit in. Melira and Project X are both pretty tight on space, so really just choosing between the two decks is the best thing you can do. An Extirpate or Surgical Extraction hurts each deck just as badly, so it's not like you're avoiding hate by having both combos.

Also, even though they seem to work very similarly, the fact is that the combos do not share redundant cards. It's not like how Splinter Twin can substitute a Kiki-Jiki for their Enchantment if they are missing that piece. Project X is an entirely different combo requiring all three different pieces. There is zero redundancy between the two combos, so there's really no reason to try and mash them together into one deck. All you end up with is two inconsistent combos instead of just one that actually wins.

[naykos]

Originally Posted by Spoofed

Crypt Champion etbs triggering its affect which brings back Saffi.
Crypt Champion sacrifice trigger goes on stack since no red mana was paid.
In response sacrifice Saffi to bring back Champion back when Champion's ability resolves.
Champion hits the graveyard and comes back due to Saffi's ability.
Champion hits the field and loops.

maybe im just stupid, but that loop just return saffi and champion, without soul warden or something similar it doesn't do anything

[RPrajzner]

There's always going to be slight differences in decks like these and the fact that every card is so high impact is big. My first suggestion is something that needs to be changed, the rest are preferences.

The thing that needs to be changed is the lack of Qasali Pridemage. Your deck dies hard to Torpor Orb. It's important to split Pridemage and Slivers so you've got answers to Orb and Dampening Matrix.

Also, I like 4 Chords. Some will debate- it just makes every hatebear and the combos more consistent. It's no GSZ but it's what we got.

I haven't really seen a need for Body Double, and the times that Sun Titan has been fantastic grows each tournament I play. It's a card that people just aren't expecting to have to answer. Body Double Lark is very powerful. The fact that they are both 5 drops makes it awkward to set up. Normally, you'd think Redcap could just be sac'd to get both of them- but you also need Seer so you probably didn't get Redcap. Most of the time you get Ranger to get Seer so here you're setting up an infinite scry combo. It doesn't seem worth it but if someone has experience with it let me know.

To address other comments, and your own-

Don't concentrate more on Project X. Saffi is fine. Don't play the other two.

I would play Thoughtsieze. It's very good in some tricky matchups. You need to discard Bobs and Sneak Attacks and some control cards. It's an archetype (and format) staple.

If you're curious what exact list I'd play... check my sig

I also recommend buying/trading for any and all of the smaller cards when you buy into the deck. Changing the deck around to the meta becomes easy then.

If you're looking to cut some slots to accommodate more goodies, most play a set of BoPs and Walls or Nobles. Ten mana men is a lot- though it's certainly not horrible if you max out on Chords.

[MiniLuv]

Not sure about Gaddock Teeg in the SB since you will be shutting off your combo enablers (Pod + Chord)

[RPrajzner]

Teeg is a card that is quite awkward in all of the toolbox decks that play him- the UR decks that play random big spells that win the game are very bad matchups though; Through the Breach, Hive Mind. He also seems fine against wrath decks. He doesn't seem amazing really ever and he's not good against any popular decks.

[Lectrys]

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben seems to be filling Gaddock Teeg's spot in a far less awkward way for us, anyway. She makes our tutor cards cost 1 mana more as opposed to shutting them off entirely, and first strike on a 2-power girl actually rocks in this meta.

Exarch Twin complains when Splinter Twin costs 5 mana and UR Storm complains when Desperate Ritual is mana-neutral, anyway. (Beware of Pyromancer Ascension.)

[RPrajzner]

She's much better against Storm, pretty much equally bad or worse against Twin, and worse against UR Tron- though I have seen both alongside each other.