Hazezon Tamar, on the surface one could through him into the leagues of Hunding Gjornersen and Boris Devilboon, you know those legends, when in fact he's probably second only to Uril, the Mistswalker (who's really more of a big slow Zur) in terms of naya generals. Think about it, other than Uril, you've got Rith, the Awakener, Mayael the Anima, Johan and Jacques le Vert. Now I'd like to think you'd be able to eliminate all but one right off the bat here, but I'll explain why to choose Hazezon over the others anyway.
Mayael, she's wonky, and unreliable unless your deck is dedicated to it, which still doesn't promise you'll get something out of her ability and makes your deck full of big creatures. Not to mention her ability is a whopping 6 mana to activate for something that might work.
Johan, vigilance is ok, not so hot when its on umpteen different other things and you can't even attack with this guy.
Jacques le Vert, meh at the psuedo anthem effect, it doesn't even pump all of your creatures.
Now the one I don't imagine people would exactly eliminate right away is Rith, which I understand but if you look at the math you'll see why she isn't so hot after all. So here's what the turns look like with rith in a bubble-
t6: Rith
t7: Swing, Activate, get dudes
t8: Now swinging with dudes
And here's Hazezon-
t7: Hazezon
t8: Get dudes (more than Rith most of the time)
t9: Swing
Rith-
t6: Rith, swing
t7: Swing, Activate, get dudes
t8: Now swinging with dudes
Hazezon-
t7: Hazezon
t8: Get dudes, Swing with dudes
Notice how Rith didn't change much at all other than that she got to swing herself with no activation. Not only is her getting the tokens (and therefore utility) conditional, but it's also more than likely going to be a lower number of tokens than what Hazezon will give you. In addition Hazezon's tokens are all three colors at once, Rith's are just green.
Add some lieges, some extra Hazezon triggers and Perilous Forays and you'll begin to see why Hazezon has an edge up on Rith
You may be thinking "But wait, what about that terrible drawback on Hazezon where he kills his own guys?" That's where the deckbuilding comes in.
Now to explain the madness, in this deck there's several things going on, and yet all aiming towards a similar goal.
First let me explain Hazezon, you see if Hazezon comes into play multiple times before your next upkeep, for every time he comes into play, that ability is going to come on the stack. This is why we see Astral Slide, and several cyclers. A problem is that your opponent can just wait for your turn to come up and then once all the Sand Warriors are out they'll just kill him and your whole army, this is where mainly the sac lands come into play. Sure it's awesome to blink him a bunch of times, but to be on the safe side you're going to need to get rid of him before he actually sees his own tokens. The removal doubles for this duty, and things like Primeval Titan and Realms Uncharted help get the specific lands you need out. Perilous Forays is particularly awesome here in that it can help you get rid of Hazezon even if you use all your mana blinking him throughout your opponents turns, in addition to letting you resolve one wave of Sand Warriors and then saccing them only to have them come back through each of the other Hazezon triggers.
After we get all of our sand warriors out, hell between the lieges, and the endless anthems, haste effects, you're almost certain to win if your attack goes through to win unimpeded, if not knock a few people out,
The secondary plan, and is probably the more practical idea, is amassing a large token army the old fashioned way with things like Rhys the Redeemed, and Siege-Gang Commander, and overwhelming your opponents with anthem effects like Beastmaster's Ascension and Mirari's Wake. Pretty much a more solid take of the Pie in the Sky scenario I listed with Hazezon above.
This isn't to scoff at Hazezon though, unlike Rith he promises you a butt load of tokens, simply getting one trigger off of Hazezon can be enough to gain board advantage, while with Rith it might take a while. It just so happens that all of the things that help with that idea help the deck in general as well. There are targets here in the deck to blink along with using Astral Slide to rattle snake on your opponents.
There's some sub synergy happening as well with all the fetches, cycling lands, Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds. I'm not too keen on LD so that explains absence of Strip Mine.
Also, worth mentioning, when Hazezon leaves the battlefield he's going to take changelings with him as well, wont grab warriors though, they have to be sand AND warrior creatures.
The Why:
You may like this deck if:
- You like surprising your opponents with Generals they've never even thought of using.
- You like the confused look of opponents as you tutor up astral slide, or show them your general.
- You want to play Naya, but not another Rith, Mayael or Uril deck.
- You like Sand warriors.
You may not like this deck if:
- You dont like counters on tokens.
- You aren't tired of waiting until two turns from when you play rith to attack with "some" tokens.
- You didn't bring your sunscreen.
Aside
First I'd like to say that this is all theorycraft and will change accordingly. Second, take a moment to look at this card, it's end result template is quite hilarious, the *'s instead of X's, the lowercased "h" at the beginning of his name, the dash on the first line in the middle of his name. This card is so messy, wish they would've put this guy in instead of the umpteen alara legends in the FTV. He really did need it bad.
I'm always going to suggest Rise of the Hobgoblins in anything RW. You can pump your TONS of mana into it once for tons of other tokens...and first strike is fantastic.
Well that's really comparing apples to oranges, but firstly Hazezon does net you more tokens, secondly red has plenty of haste for all your tokens, which can make the difference between getting something out of your tokens and not, third red has more anthems than black, and fourth kiki jiki and siege-gang are hard to pass up.
What does black offer over red for tokens? Bitterblossom, Death Pit Offering and a myriad of sac outlets, but in that instance you're really starting to delve into different play styles, RWG's more aggressive while BWG has a more controllish/synergistic approach with tokens.
I'm always going to suggest Rise of the Hobgoblins in anything RW. You can pump your TONS of mana into it once for tons of other tokens...and first strike is fantastic.
Rise was in but I cut it, which is probably wrong of me, its an army and a pump for almost all of my dudes as well, in addition the tokens are red and white. Looking at the list, taking out mycoloth seems right, he has to survive until next turn and he needs to eat at least two other guys to start getting nuts, what do you think about that?
"Some of the other guys dared me to go out, but I knew it weren't no ordinary giant giga-blasting blaze of unending flames that would scorch the whole world."
—Norin the Wary
Too many Anthem effects. All you need is Eldrazi Monument for abilities and Beastmaster Ascension for pumping, with fine addition of Elesh Norn and Mirror Entity. I would get rid of all the +1/+1 effects (except Mirari's Wake and Monument naturally). Your game plan should be landing Tamar and win the text turn (via combat damage or combo), not ping with 2/2 tokens.
The anthems help make all of your tokens a legit threat all by themselves to everyone, they also all essentially add another wave or two to the sand warriors.
We are winning the turn after hazezon is played thanks to all of the anthem effects idk where you're getting 2/2s from because by the time hazezons tokens hit the battlefield you should have something more than a gaeas anthem out.
I HOPE YOU BROUGHT YOUR SUNSCREEN!
Mayael, she's wonky, and unreliable unless your deck is dedicated to it, which still doesn't promise you'll get something out of her ability and makes your deck full of big creatures. Not to mention her ability is a whopping 6 mana to activate for something that might work.
Johan, vigilance is ok, not so hot when its on umpteen different other things and you can't even attack with this guy.
Jacques le Vert, meh at the psuedo anthem effect, it doesn't even pump all of your creatures.
Now the one I don't imagine people would exactly eliminate right away is Rith, which I understand but if you look at the math you'll see why she isn't so hot after all. So here's what the turns look like with rith in a bubble-
t6: Rith
t7: Swing, Activate, get dudes
t8: Now swinging with dudes
And here's Hazezon-
t7: Hazezon
t8: Get dudes (more than Rith most of the time)
t9: Swing
Not so hot for Hazezon, right?
Now lets look at this with Anger in the yard.
Rith-
t6: Rith, swing
t7: Swing, Activate, get dudes
t8: Now swinging with dudes
Hazezon-
t7: Hazezon
t8: Get dudes, Swing with dudes
Notice how Rith didn't change much at all other than that she got to swing herself with no activation. Not only is her getting the tokens (and therefore utility) conditional, but it's also more than likely going to be a lower number of tokens than what Hazezon will give you. In addition Hazezon's tokens are all three colors at once, Rith's are just green.
Add some lieges, some extra Hazezon triggers and Perilous Forays and you'll begin to see why Hazezon has an edge up on Rith
You may be thinking "But wait, what about that terrible drawback on Hazezon where he kills his own guys?" That's where the deckbuilding comes in.
The What:
2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
3 Weathered Wayfarer
4 Rhys the Redeemed
5 Knight of the Reliquary
6 Mirror Entity
7 Soltari Champion
8 Spawnwrithe
9 Academy Rector
10 Anger
11 Boartusk Liege
12 Galepowder Mag
13 Hero of Bladehold
14 Instigator Gang
15 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
16 Rakka Mar
17 Wilt-Leaf Liege
18 Balefire Liege
19 Cloudgoat Ranger
20 Deranged Hermit
21 Mycoloth
22 Nobilis of War
23 Siege-Gang Commander
24 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
25 Primeval Titan
26 Tolsmir Wolfblood
27 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
28 Eternal Dragon
29 Hornet Queen
30 Krosan Tusker
31 Astral Slide
32 Luminarch Ascension
33 Awakening Zone
34 Beastmaster Ascension
35 Gaea's Anthem
36 Glorious Anthem
37 Goblin Assault
38 Sacred Mesa
39 Crescendo of War
40 Glory of Warfare
41 Parallel Lives
42 Doubling Season
43 In the Web of War
44 Mirari's Wake
45 Perilous Forays
47 Cruicible of Worlds
48 Expedition Map
49 Erratic Portal
50 Eldrazi Monument
51 Enlightened Tutor
52 Gamble
53 Path to Exile
54 Swords to Plowshares
55 Life from the Loam
56 Otherworldy Journey
57 Beast Within
58 Cultivate
59 Idyllic Tutor
60 Realms Uncharted
61 Ajani Goldmane
62 Elspeth Tirel
63 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
64 Garruk Wildspeaker
65 Sarkhan Vol
66 Blasted Landscape
67 Command Tower
68 Diamond Valley
69 Drifting Meadow
70 Forgotten Cave
71 Gavony Township
72 High Market
73 Jungle Shrine
74 Kher Keep
75 Kjeldoran Outpost
76 Miren, the Moaning Well
77 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
78 Plateau
79 Raging Ravine
80 Reflecting Pool
81 Sacred Foundry
82 Savannah
83 Secluded Steppe
84 Slippery Karst
85 Smoldering Crater
86 Stirring Wildwood
87 Stomping Ground
88 Taiga
89 Temple Garden
90 Tranquil Thicket
91 Windbrisk Heights
3 Plains
3 Mountain
3 Forest
The How:
First let me explain Hazezon, you see if Hazezon comes into play multiple times before your next upkeep, for every time he comes into play, that ability is going to come on the stack. This is why we see Astral Slide, and several cyclers. A problem is that your opponent can just wait for your turn to come up and then once all the Sand Warriors are out they'll just kill him and your whole army, this is where mainly the sac lands come into play. Sure it's awesome to blink him a bunch of times, but to be on the safe side you're going to need to get rid of him before he actually sees his own tokens. The removal doubles for this duty, and things like Primeval Titan and Realms Uncharted help get the specific lands you need out. Perilous Forays is particularly awesome here in that it can help you get rid of Hazezon even if you use all your mana blinking him throughout your opponents turns, in addition to letting you resolve one wave of Sand Warriors and then saccing them only to have them come back through each of the other Hazezon triggers.
After we get all of our sand warriors out, hell between the lieges, and the endless anthems, haste effects, you're almost certain to win if your attack goes through to win unimpeded, if not knock a few people out,
The secondary plan, and is probably the more practical idea, is amassing a large token army the old fashioned way with things like Rhys the Redeemed, and Siege-Gang Commander, and overwhelming your opponents with anthem effects like Beastmaster's Ascension and Mirari's Wake. Pretty much a more solid take of the Pie in the Sky scenario I listed with Hazezon above.
This isn't to scoff at Hazezon though, unlike Rith he promises you a butt load of tokens, simply getting one trigger off of Hazezon can be enough to gain board advantage, while with Rith it might take a while. It just so happens that all of the things that help with that idea help the deck in general as well. There are targets here in the deck to blink along with using Astral Slide to rattle snake on your opponents.
There's some sub synergy happening as well with all the fetches, cycling lands, Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds. I'm not too keen on LD so that explains absence of Strip Mine.
Also, worth mentioning, when Hazezon leaves the battlefield he's going to take changelings with him as well, wont grab warriors though, they have to be sand AND warrior creatures.
The Why:
You may like this deck if:
- You like surprising your opponents with Generals they've never even thought of using.
- You like the confused look of opponents as you tutor up astral slide, or show them your general.
- You want to play Naya, but not another Rith, Mayael or Uril deck.
- You like Sand warriors.
You may not like this deck if:
- You dont like counters on tokens.
- You aren't tired of waiting until two turns from when you play rith to attack with "some" tokens.
- You didn't bring your sunscreen.
Aside
My Helpdesk: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=7776298#post7776298
My friend's awesome mtg dice: http://www.etsy.com/listing/120956030/magic-the-gathering-mini-d6-dice-set
My Helpdesk: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=7776298#post7776298
My friend's awesome mtg dice: http://www.etsy.com/listing/120956030/magic-the-gathering-mini-d6-dice-set
GW BenedictioWG
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
What does black offer over red for tokens? Bitterblossom, Death Pit Offering and a myriad of sac outlets, but in that instance you're really starting to delve into different play styles, RWG's more aggressive while BWG has a more controllish/synergistic approach with tokens.
Rise was in but I cut it, which is probably wrong of me, its an army and a pump for almost all of my dudes as well, in addition the tokens are red and white. Looking at the list, taking out mycoloth seems right, he has to survive until next turn and he needs to eat at least two other guys to start getting nuts, what do you think about that?
My Helpdesk: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=7776298#post7776298
My friend's awesome mtg dice: http://www.etsy.com/listing/120956030/magic-the-gathering-mini-d6-dice-set
Cockatrice Username: seriph0
The anthems help make all of your tokens a legit threat all by themselves to everyone, they also all essentially add another wave or two to the sand warriors.
We are winning the turn after hazezon is played thanks to all of the anthem effects idk where you're getting 2/2s from because by the time hazezons tokens hit the battlefield you should have something more than a gaeas anthem out.
My Helpdesk: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=7776298#post7776298
My friend's awesome mtg dice: http://www.etsy.com/listing/120956030/magic-the-gathering-mini-d6-dice-set