The Birthing Pod deck (or just “Pod”) is named after the card that it is built around. Birthing Pod is an artifact that allows you to “upgrade” a creature by sacrificing it and searching your library for a replacement creature with converted mana cost equal to the sacrificed creature's converted mana cost + 1. You can choose any creature, as long as it meets the converted mana cost requirement. This allows for you to improve your board position without spending an additional card to do so. However, the real strength of Birthing Pod lies in the “Enters the Battlefield” (ETB) and death triggers that your creatures grant when they are tutored for or sacrificed. With every Birthing Pod activation, one creature dies and another creature enters the battlefield. By filling your deck with creatures that have ETB or Death triggers, you are maximizing the effects of each Birthing Pod exchange. By having a variety of creatures with a variety of effects, you are also creating a toolbox of effects allowing you to Pod for the best creature to fit the current situation.
Birthing Pod also gives you a way to reliably summon creatures with high mana costs without needing multiple copies in your deck. Traditionally, you need to run more copies of a creature in order to improve your chances of drawing and casting it. Unfortunately, having too many copies of an expensive creature hurts your mana base and increases the chance of having dead cards in your hand early on. With Birthing Pod, a single copy in your deck is enough since it grants you an alternative to hardcasting it from your hand. All you need to do is to progressively sacrifice creatures to Birthing Pod, moving your way up the ladder until you get to your biggest creature.
Birthing Pod attempts to achieve victory by by applying these two concepts: Overwhelming the opponent with creatures/effects that can abuse Birthing Pod, and reaching the end of your “Pod Chain” and summoning a creature that grants you an insurmountable lead. However, a properly built Birthing Pod deck should be strong enough to be able to win the game even without Birthing Pod itself. The creatures should be strong and efficient enough on their own to beat an opponent if you don’t happen to draw a Birthing Pod or if your opponent destroys/disrupts it.
The History of Birthing Pod
Birthing Pod rose to prominence not long after it was printed in New Phyrexia. It took a little while before players started to see the potential of this card, but it eventually became one of the top competitive archetypes. In New Phyrexia Standard, Pod decks saw many different variations in many different color combinations. One popular version even used Birthing Pod to fuel the ExarchTwin combo.
Birthing Pod’s success expanded beyond the Standard format. In Modern, Birthing Pod was combined with the Melira, Sylvok Outcast + Kitchen Finks combo, potentially gaining infinite amounts of life with a sac outlet, or infinite damage with Murderous Redcap. Melira Pod continues to be a competitive Modern deck today.
After Zendikar block was cycled out for Innistrad, the Birthing Pod archetype was weakened in Standard. Birthing Pod is strongest when the format has a bigger pool of creatures to choose from, and losing three sets for one resulted in a net loss of almost 400 cards. The deck regressed for obvious reasons. In addition, three-color decks became more difficult to play since the mana fixing in Zendikar was so strong. However, it was still a capable deck in Innistrad Standard, the most popular version being Bant Pod. Some versions included Heartless Summoning for another way to quickly cast bigger creatures. Hybrids of Wolf Run Ramp and Birthing Pod have also seen play.
The release of Dark Ascension meant big things for Birthing Pod. Not only did it increase the creature pool, it also introduced a new mechanic that has great synergy with Birthing Pod: Undying. Sacrificing an Undying creature to Birthing Pod lets you move up the Pod chain, while the sacrificed creature comes back bigger. You can even choose to sacrifice the same creature a second time for yet another creature. Strangleroot Geist is an excellent inclusion in the two-drop slot, adding much needed aggression to the deck. The release of Dark Ascension set motion to a reemergence of Birthing Pod into competitive play, even despite the printing of Grafdigger’s Cage, which prevents Birthing Pod from being used. It performed relatively well overall at Pro Tour Dark Ascension, including a Top 8 finish by Lukas Blohon (Naya Pod).
Why Play Birthing Pod?
Birthing Pod is a very unique deck. Birthing Pod creates many different interactions that are not normally possible with regular aggro/control/combo decks. Birthing Pod is a breath of fresh air, if you're bored of the basic formulas decks tend to follow.
Variety and adaptability is the name of the game. A big chunk of your deck is made up of singleton copies of many creatures, each tailored for a specific situation. Having this big of a toolbox is a luxury that only Birthing Pod players have.
Birthing Pod is challenging to play. It takes a great deal of skill, know-how and a bit of memorization to pilot this deck. While most decks can be picked up and played by just about anyone with a general understanding of the game and quick look at the deck, you need to know how to play Birthing Pod to play Birthing Pod.
Birthing Pod decks are highly customizable. You can shape and mold the deck in many ways, neither way necessarily being better or worse than the other. You can even change your color combination as you see fit. This allows you to customize your deck appropriately to the expected meta or simply keeps things fresh if you get bored. Birthing Pod is a great choice for people who love to continually tweak their decks.
Your deck is a mystery to your opponent. While most decks of the same archetype generally have a similar decklist that isn't deviated from, Birthing Pod decks can be very different from each other. Even Birthing Pod decks of the same color combination can be difficult for your opponent to handle when he doesn't know the specific list of creatures that you can potentially tutor for.
Birthing Pod decks are few and far between. Birthing Pod flies under the radar as far as popularity goes, despite being a very capable competitive deck. If you want to play something different than what everyone else is playing and something that people aren't used to facing, Birthing Pod is a fine choice.
Color Options
The Birthing Pod deck's primary color is Green. While the Birthing Pod spell can technically be cast and activated without Green mana, you definitely want to be able to cast and activate it without having to pay life. Moreover, mana acceleration/fixing is key to this deck's success, which is something that is much more accessible in Green than any other color. Aside from that, Birthing Pod decks come in a wide variety of color combinations. Choosing a color combination isn't simple as there are many factors to consider. Not only does each color grant you with a different variety of Birthing Pod targets, they also feature a different suite of utility spells and sideboard options:
W: White benefits from having mana fixing from two different creatures: Birds of Paradise and Avacyn's Pilgrim. White is also a friendly color with Green, allowing you to use a Scars dual land: Razorverge Thicket. This makes White's inclusion very smooth and easy on your mana base. White features a lot of creatures that generate tokens upon entering the battlefield. Blade Splicer is a great creature since it leaves you with a 3/3 upon sacrificing it, and it fills an otherwise weak 3-mana slot. Gavony Township is very good for Birthing Pod, since you will be able to amass a swarm of creatures. White has access to Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, which can single-handedly win the game if you're able to Pod to 7.
U: Blue features one of the best Birthing Pod targets in the game: Phantasmal Image. Phantasmal Image can copy any target on the field, and allows you to "skip" Birthing Pod levels by copying a creature with higher mana cost. It also grants you access to Venser, the Sojourner, another card that can abuse ETB triggers. Despite that it is Green's enemy color, it shares a color pie with Green/White, allowing you to use another Scars dual land, Seachrome Coast.
B: Black possesses some of the strongest ETB and Death effects, and a great Undying creature in Geralf's Messenger. One of the greatest assets of the Green/Black combination is Glissa, the Traitor, who allows you to recur sacrificed artifacts such as Ratchet Bomb, Solemn Simulacrum, Phyrexian Metamorph and Wurmcoil Engine, not to mention the ability to recover destroyed Birthing Pods. Black gives you access to powerful removal spells such as Doom Blade and Black Sun's Zenith. Black also has a six-mana finisher in Massacre Wurm, providing a very dangerous game-ending threat. While Green/Black is an enemy pairing and does not have a Scars dual to help with mana, the synergy between Black creatures and Birthing Pod is enough to warrant a Pod deck of only these two colors.
R: Of the five colors, Red might have the weakest roster for Birthing Pod creatures. However, Huntmaster of the Fells is one of the best creatures in the 4cmc slot for this deck. It grants you a Wolf token and 2 life before it is sacrificed, or it can take control over the game by itself, without needing Birthing Pod. Red also has Inferno Titan, which is the only one that can win the game as soon as it's summoned. Red is friendly with Green, giving access to a Scars dual: Copperline Gorge. Kessig Wolf Run becomes an option and the sideboard is stronger with Red's Ancient Grudge.
Deck Composition
First of all, run four Birthing Pod. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…
Mana Acceleration
Mana acceleration is very important to a Birthing Pod deck. First of all, Birthing Pod takes 3-4 mana to cast, and another 1-2 to activate. You want to be able to take advantage of the deck's namesake artifact as quickly and often as possible. Secondly, the deck includes many high-end creatures, some costing as much as 7 mana. You will need to be able to hardcast the spells you've drawn and you'll need mana acceleration to get there. Thirdly, the variety of creatures you'll be using will likely be spread amongst 2-3 colors. While the base of the deck is green, the off-color mana fixing from Birds and Pilgrims will come in handy when it comes to hardcasting them. And finally, in the late game, a useless mana dork can be sacrificed to Birthing Pod for a more useful two-mana creature. Rampant Growth is an alternative to mana dorks. They come out one turn slower, can't be sacrificed to Pod, but they can fetch any land you want and they don't die to removal. Birthing Pod gets full mileage out of mana acceleration, so it's not uncommon to see as many as eight accelerants in a Pod deck.
The nature of Birthing Pod is that your creatures enter the battlefield and die frequently and rapidly. Good Birthing Pod creatures are ones that don't need to stay in play to give you value. Also, as mentioned earlier, Pod decks include a very high concentration of creatures, and therefore a low concentration of non-creature spells. Creatures that act as a body and a spell are great fits for this deck. Most creatures in Birthing Pod should fit one of the following categories:
ETB/Death Trigger or Static Effect: Creatures that grant an effect upon entering the battlefield and/or dying. This makes up for your lack of non-creature spells, since your creatures double as utility spells. Bear in mind that Birthing Pod can only be activated as a sorcery so you can't get any instant effects.
Recursion/Token Generation: Leaves a creature behind, even after being sacrificed to Birthing Pod, either because they generate creature tokens upon ETB (or death) or because of the Undying mechanic. Undying creatures are able to be sacrificed to Birthing Pod twice.
Clone Mechanic: Enters the battlefield as a copy of another creature in play. It inherits the copied creature's ETB/Death triggers, which are the type of creature that your deck is full of. Remember that creature clones also copy the creature's casting cost, which is relevant for when you sacrifice it to Birthing Pod.
Here is a list of creatures that fit one of these categories: Sorted by Converted Mana Cost and Color
While most creatures in the deck are designed to do something when the enter or exit the battlefield, other creatures are included because they're just flat out good. After all, your ultimate strategy is to bring the opponent's life total to zero.
Here are a list of creatures that do not feature any ETB/Death triggers, but are sometimes used in the main deck or sideboard to serve a specific purpose: Sorted by Converted Mana Cost and Color
Two Mana
XSpellskite – Helps protect your Birthing Pod, among other things. WThalia, Guardian of Thraben – Decent in a deck with such a low concentration of non-creature spells, it does a great job against control decks.
GThrun, the Last Troll – A hard-to-kill creature that beats decks that rely on spot removal. WHero of Bladehold – A very offensive creature with one of the quickest clocks in the game.
Five Mana
GKessig Cagebreakers – Another very offensive creature that takes advantage of the many creatures that will be in your graveyard.
While the vast quantity of creatures, some that perform the same duties as non-creature spells, there isn't a whole lot of room for anyhting else. However, there are still many worthy options and especially certain spells that do things that your creature spells can't do. Here is a list of popular options: Sorted by Color
XMimic Vat: It allows you to recur ETB and Death triggers of any creature you have in your deck. Doesn't work with Undying creatures. XMortarpod: It provides direct damage, a sac-outlet for creatures with death triggers, and extra reach for finishing an opponent off. XRatchet Bomb: Mass-removal for tokens and low-mana cost creatures. Works great in Glissa Pod, due to recursion. WDay of Judgment: Popular in Wolf Run/Pod hybrids and slower versions that need defense against aggro. WOblivion Ring: All-purpose removal and one of the most versatile spells in Standard. UPonder: Dig spells to help find Birthing Pods and fix mana, among other things. Shuffle effects strengthen Ponder. BBlack Sun's Zenith: Provides mass removal. While your surviving creatures may be afflicted with -1/-1 counters, they can easily be sacrificed to Birthing Pod for a fresh creature. BDoom Blade/Go for the Throat: Single-target creature removal is always welcome in Black. BHeartless Summoning: Included in an interesting variant of Birthing Pod that included many high-end creatures and two ways to get them out early. BTragic Slip: A noteworthy removal option, since Morbid is frequently active. GBeast Within: Acts as instant all-purpose removal, and particularly useful if you're not playing White and don't have access to Oblivion Ring. GGarruk Relentless: A very versatile card, Garruk has an added benefit of being able to tutor for a creature in a deck that is designed to do so. The -3 ability on Garruk, the Veil-Cursed is also a game ender in a deck that rapidly fills its own graveyard. GGreen Sun's Zenith: In a deck designed carrying such a wide variety of creatures, a card that can tutor for any one of them (as long as it's Green) gains value. RGalvanic Blast, IncinerateArc Trail, Brimstone Volley: Burn. For removing a creature or targeting the opponent directly. WUVenser, the Sojourner: With so many creatures with ETB triggers in the deck, Venser gives an alternative method to abuse them. WGGavony Township: Since WG has access to Strangleroot Geist, Blade Splicer, and Geist-Honored Monk, your creature count can increase fast and Township takes full advantage. RGKessig Wolf Run: Pod variants based around an RG Aggro shell are generally pretty aggressive, and could use the extra reach from Wolf Run.
Sideboard Options
Coming Soon Sorted by Color
Coming Soon
General Deckbuilding Tips
Birthing Pod should be the center of your deck, not just a utility spell.
You are building a Birthing Pod deck, not just a deck with Birthing Pods in it. Most card choices should have Birthing Pod in mind. Birthing Pod is one of the single most powerful and flexible cards in Standard, but you can't shove four Birthing Pods into any aggro shell and expect for it to fit. The deck must be optimized for it, the creatures must interact well with it, the numbers must make sense so that every Pod exchange can grant value and/or utility. If you treat Birthing Pod as simply a supplement to your deck, what you'll end up with is a sub-par ramp deck that won't be able to compete with the Tier 1 decks out there.
Don't rely too heavily on Birthing Pod.
While you want to build your deck around Birthing Pod, you must also consider that there are only four copies in your deck and you can go an entire game without drawing one. Your opponent will also be looking to disrupt it with artifact destruction, countermagic or even cards like Grafdigger's Cage. Birthing Pod is important but if your deck folds without an active Pod, your strategy is too fragile. You should never have to say "I lost because I never drew Birthing Pod." A well-made Pod deck is one that gets the most mileage out of Birthing Pod while having some degree of self-sufficiency without it, and finding that balance is a challenge in building it.
Keep it simple, stupid!
While it is tempting and fun to try to turn your Pod deck into a toolbox of utility creatures in an attempt to have answer for every situation, bear in mind that the cards you will be podding for are also the cards you will be drawing. Situational spells are exactly that: situational. Having too many of them will often result drawing into them in the wrong situations, and not getting proper value for them. The majority of your creatures should be more-or-less universally useful or at least versatile enough so that you're not casting Gray Ogres. Also, while there are tons of interesting creature interactions in Standard and while Birthing Pod seems like it can help you get there, it does not magically turn a bad win condition into a good one nor does it does make an inconsistent deck consistent. Leave your situational creatures in your sideboard or cut them completely, and realize that unorthodox creatures to achieve unorthodox win conditions will hinder more than it will help. Birthing Pod is certainly very versatile, but don't get too cute with it.
Have an end game in mind.
There are many different approaches for a Pod deck to defeat the opponent. It is commonly used in an aggro shell, using Birthing Pod to gain value from each activation and overwhelm the opponent with the incremental advantage from your Pod exchanges. It can also be used in a controlling fashion, using a variety of bullets to keep the board stable until you're able to Pod or hardcast your [powerful win condition. It has even been used to fuel combo decks, such as Twin Pod in New Phyrexia Standard or Melira Pod in Modern, but unfortunately no such deck exists in Dark Ascension Standard. It's important to choose a reasonably attainable path to victory and focus on that. How will this deck win most of its games? Answer this question first, and build your deck accordingly.
Competitive Birthing Pod Variants
Birthing Pod comes in several different forms, all of which can be very different from each other. What works with one Birthing Pod deck might not work for another. Trying to apply advice that is meant for one variation to a deck of a different variation is likely yield undesirable results.
The purpose of this section is to differentiate between the different variants of Birthing Pod and provide a framework to build upon for each variant.
Please note that while there are countless possible versions of Birthing Pod decks, I will only focus on ones that are deemed competitive in the current Standard environment. After all, this forum is located in the "Developing Competitive" section, so we'll try to limit our discussion to competitive decks only. This section will be continually updated as more competitive variations are developed/discovered.
Naya PodGWR
Naya Pod resembles a mid-range aggro deck with Birthing Pods in them. The base of the deck includes mana acceleration into efficient creatures that still retain value even after being podded away. It attempts to achieve victory by overwhelming the opponent with more and bigger creatures or casting/podding into the game-ending threat at the top of the pod chain: Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. One of the main strengths of this deck is that it's able to function even without an active Birthing Pod in play. When it does have Birthing Pod, it rapidly furthers your creature progression, providing lasting power and inevitability that most aggro decks usually lack. However, because of it's simpler and straightforward plan, it uses fewer situational and utility creatures than most Pod decks.
Naya colors provide the deck with the perfect creatures at the 2-3-4 slots: Strangleroot Geist, Blade Splicer, Huntmaster of the Fells. All of these creatures are strong and efficient enough to use in aggro decks, and all leave a creature behind when being sacrificed to Birthing Pod. White also provides a finisher in Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and the supporting spells from Red and White include Oblivion Ring and Arc Trail. A deck consisting of three colors of the same color arc, with the primary color in the middle is huge for the mana consistency, since Scars duals only come in friendly color pairings. Also, having access to both Ancient Grudge and Ray of Revelation is a huge plus in the sideboard.
Bant Pod focuses on the exploits of Phantasmal Image (and to a lesser extent, Phyrexian Metamorph) and its synergy with cards like Strangleroot Geist, Sun Titan and Birthing Pod itself. The ability to pod any of your mana dorks into the strongest creature on the board is obviously powerful and the Image inherits the copied creature's mana cost, allowing you to "skip" levels in the pod chain. In the early game, copying your Undying geist means that it can re-copy the strongest creature on the board with an additional +1/+1 counter upon death (or sacrifice). In the late game, casting or podding for a Sun Titan brings back any images from the graveyard, which will most likely be more copies of Sun Titan.
While Pods and Images are the deck's primary road to victory, the deck certainly doesn't necessarily rely on a linchpin that can defeat the deck once disrupted. The deck is still filled with many creatures with efficient creatures and versatile effects. Because of the explosiveness of the deck's win condition, it is able to lend itself to a more patient strategy, protecting itself with big bodies and utility creatures until you are able to cast a big threat. Depending on how it's built, it can also act as an aggressive deck, winning the game solely on the quality of the creatures in it.
The main pieces of this synergy fall under the Bant colors: Phantasmal Image, Strangleroot Geist and Sun Titan. White and Blue also give creatures with strong defensive ETB effects such as Fiend Hunter, Dungeon Geists, Æther Adept and Stonehorn Dignitary. Like Naya, Bant Pod consists of three adjacent colors, granting access to two different Scars duals, giving it a consistent mana base, especially for a three-color deck.
Sometimes referred to Glissa Pod, Undying Pod, or Rock Pod, BG Pod takes advantage of some of the best Birthing Pod targets in Black and Green. First of all, as mentioned earlier, the Undying mechanic works very well with Birthing Pod by allowing you to sacrifice a creature to Pod only to have the creature come back even stronger. BG Pod takes advantage of this mechanic with creatures such as Strangleroot Geist and Geralf's Messenger, as well as Phyrexian Metamorph (and Phantasmal Image if you play blue) acting as copies of those creatures. This color combination also has access to Glissa, the Traitor, allowing you to cast/sacrifice the same Solemn Simulacrum multiple times, bring back a Birthing Pod that was destroyed by the opponent, or recur Ratchet Bomb to decimate the opponent's army.
When this deck isn't winning the game with one-sided board sweepers and aggression from Undying creatures, it possesses strong finishers in Grave Titan, Massacre Wurm, and Sheoldred, Whispering One and as a means to get there with a control style of play. Of the main Birthing Pod variants, BG Pod might have the strongest interaction with Birthing Pod as well as a way to recover pods that were previously destroyed..
A glaring disadvantage of this deck is its mana base. Neither Black nor Blue share a Scars dual with Green. Furthermore, having GG, BGG and BBB mana costs in a deck can wreak havoc on opening hands. In addition to Birds of Paradise, mana fixing in the form of Evolving Wilds, Viridian Emissary & Solemn Simulacrum are must-haves, and Rampant Growth & Sphere of the Suns are worth considering too.
Questions? Comments? Criticism? Fire Away.
Please feel free to post any of your own contributions to this Primer. I will check regularly and update as I see fit.
Have you tried Beast Within? It's a surprisingly versatile option that I loved when I was in Junk colors. It can not only act as an O-ring, it can blank all of the removal you care about: The ones that exile your permanents. Since I switched over to BUG, I've found that without the power of Blade Splicer it loses a lot of its luster though.
Nitpick: Archon of Justice doesnt have an ETB effect; exile effect triggers upon his death.
Possible role player: Melira, Sylvok Outcast out of SB vs Infect (yes, some people are still playing it).
Nitpick: Archon of Justice doesnt have an ETB effect; exile effect triggers upon his death.
Possible role player: Melira, Sylvok Outcast out of SB vs Infect (yes, some people are still playing it).
Thanks. It was a typo. Copy + Paste makes for many errors.
Fixed a few other things. I will be making a few additions. I've admittedly paid less attention to Blue than other colors.
How can this be a primmer to the archetype when there is no mention of its weaknesses or of the common pitfalls that are to be avoided when building the deck? You gave the dos so lets take a look at the don'ts:
Most builds take an "I can deal with anything" attitude. All that leads to is an inefficient deck that does not deal with anything well. Leave your ability to deal with anything in the sideboard. Use the pod to promote your goal and deal with common problems.
There is a tendency in pod decks to rely too heavily on the pod. I constantly see lists full of cards that nobody would ever play if it were not for the pod. It is all right to put 1 or 2 cards that are just there because of the pod, but when you start getting much over that you just have a pile of junk. Your deck should not look like a highlander deck.
Too many builds take the Timmy route. They want to build up to something big. You just don't have the time to do that. Going from a 3 drop to a 7 drop takes 4 activations of the pod. If you started on turn 4 that means your big bad nasty is coming out on turn 8. Not impressive at all. If you can get 4 activations of the pod your opponent should already be dead not just seeing your real threat. Heck they should be dead on the second or third activation. Your goal is not to do something big. Your goal is to win the game.
Basically pod will not make a bad deck good. It will not make an inconsistent pile consistent, and it will not make dropping fatties in the late game a winning strategy. It can turn an already consistent deck into a very precise killing machine. If you want to play inconsistent piles then play commander, and If you want to play big threats then play removal and countermagic not pod. If you wouldn't build it without the pod then you shouldn't build it just because there is a pod.
How can this be a primmer to the archetype when there is no mention of its weaknesses or of the common pitfalls that are to be avoided when building the deck? You gave the dos so lets take a look at the don'ts:
Most builds take an "I can deal with anything" attitude. All that leads to is an inefficient deck that does not deal with anything well. Leave your ability to deal with anything in the sideboard. Use the pod to promote your goal and deal with common problems.
There is a tendency in pod decks to rely too heavily on the pod. I constantly see lists full of cards that nobody would ever play if it were not for the pod. It is all right to put 1 or 2 cards that are just there because of the pod, but when you start getting much over that you just have a pile of junk. Your deck should not look like a highlander deck.
Too many builds take the Timmy route. They want to build up to something big. You just don't have the time to do that. Going from a 3 drop to a 7 drop takes 4 activations of the pod. If you started on turn 4 that means your big bad nasty is coming out on turn 8. Not impressive at all. If you can get 4 activations of the pod your opponent should already be dead not just seeing your real threat. Heck they should be dead on the second or third activation. Your goal is not to do something big. Your goal is to win the game.
Basically pod will not make a bad deck good. It will not make an inconsistent pile consistent, and it will not make dropping fatties in the late game a winning strategy. It can turn an already consistent deck into a very precise killing machine. If you want to play inconsistent piles then play commander, and If you want to play big threats then play removal and countermagic not pod. If you wouldn't build it without the pod then you shouldn't build it just because there is a pod.
redthirst is redthirst, fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse. He was the leader of the Fires of Salvation, the only clan I'm aware of to get modded off the forums so hard they made their own forums.
Degenerate? Sure. Loudmouth? You bet. Law abiding? No ****ing way.
How can this be a primmer to the archetype when there is no mention of its weaknesses or of the common pitfalls that are to be avoided when building the deck? You gave the dos so lets take a look at the don'ts:
Im sorry but this response came off pretty rude. Im more than willing to accept criticism, and take suggestions but I dont think it is too much to ask for a little bit of respect. "I would like to see a xyz section. It would be very helpful." is constructive and encouraging. "You call that a primer??" is not.
Anyway, I'm working on it. Was 75% done when I completed it, and posted what I had so far. This took me a long time to do, and keep in mind that we've only had this forum up for a few days. It will be an ongoing process.
Thanks for your suggestion and contribution. I will be adding a "common deckbuilding mistakes" section. I also don't think primers discuss a lot about playing the deck. They generally only cover building it. "Birthing Pod" encompasses a wide range of decks that are very different for each other, but I'm sure we can come up with some general play advice.
Everyone: Feel free to suggest any section/content you feel is missing, or even contribute with your own writeup. I'll definitely update your contributions it into the OP.
First off great primer can't wait to it when it's finished. I think I missed out on some of the good red creatures like pyreheart wolf turning all your creatures into stormblood berserker is a pretty solid ability. The next is Urabrask, the hidden a nice static ability of giving the guys you just poddin haste and makin your opponents creatures come into play tapped can be great against swarm decks. Slagstorm is a really good cheap sweeper than do some damage to token decks. Finally Imho I don't think you explained the full power of the huntmaster yes the life gain and token are great but a lot of it's power comes from your ability to flip it when you get it out netting you life gain a token direct damage and a 4/4 trampler.
How can this be a primmer to the archetype when there is no mention of its weaknesses or of the common pitfalls that are to be avoided when building the deck? You gave the dos so lets take a look at the don'ts:
You need to seriously chill out. The Primer is clearly incomplete at this stage, but Bokchoy has done an excellent job writing up what he has done so far, in a very readable format. It looks like it took alot of work, and I for one am grateful for it.
Most builds take an "I can deal with anything" attitude. All that leads to is an inefficient deck that does not deal with anything well. Leave your ability to deal with anything in the sideboard. Use the pod to promote your goal and deal with common problems.
There is a tendency in pod decks to rely too heavily on the pod. I constantly see lists full of cards that nobody would ever play if it were not for the pod. It is all right to put 1 or 2 cards that are just there because of the pod, but when you start getting much over that you just have a pile of junk. Your deck should not look like a highlander deck.
Actually, your post is just as incomplete as the OP, just in a different way. It's true that there's little value in having early drops that are pod targets (other than Phantasmal Image). However, 4 pods and a fatty effectively gives you FIVE copies of that card in your deck. That's much more consistent than a highlander deck. Plus, cards that have overlapping functions are the same category of cards (just like in a control deck, you have categories for counters, card draw, finishers etc)
There are also two main different philosophical approaches to Pod (which you neglect to mention). The first is that your 2-3-4 plays serve to stop you losing the game, before your 5-6-7 drops. The second is that your 2-3-4 drops ARE your path to victory, and the titans are an afterthought. So a 4 drop like Hero of Bladehold might be quite a good choice for the 'aggro' versions that are trying to win with early beatsticks, while it's a terrible card for the people who want to win with Sun Titan.
The OP already implicitly covers this by separating cards into the 'Main Creatures' and 'Other' sections. The area of convergence where everybody should be able to agree is the 'main players' section, and the value of the creatures in the 'Other' section will fluctuate depending on the intent of the deck it's being included in.
Too many builds take the Timmy route. They want to build up to something big. You just don't have the time to do that. Going from a 3 drop to a 7 drop takes 4 activations of the pod. If you started on turn 4 that means your big bad nasty is coming out on turn 8. Not impressive at all. If you can get 4 activations of the pod your opponent should already be dead not just seeing your real threat. Heck they should be dead on the second or third activation. Your goal is not to do something big. Your goal is to win the game.
What you say is true, however, I suspect that you are meaning your statement to apply to decks where I think you just don't understand what the lines of play for that deck are.
Basically pod will not make a bad deck good. It will not make an inconsistent pile consistent, and it will not make dropping fatties in the late game a winning strategy. It can turn an already consistent deck into a very precise killing machine. If you want to play inconsistent piles then play commander, and If you want to play big threats then play removal and countermagic not pod. If you wouldn't build it without the pod then you shouldn't build it just because there is a pod.
Yeah, I think that this arguement is ultimately a false one. Every pod deck that doesn't draw it's pod is a 'bad' one in the current metagame. Perhaps we just have different definitions of what 'bad' is.
So, in conclusion, thanks for your inflammatory post. I doubt that I would have posted all of that if you had not
Every pod deck that doesn't draw it's pod is a 'bad' one in the current metagame. Perhaps we just have different definitions of what 'bad' is.
I think this is false, and what separates a good Pod deck from a bad one. A good pod deck right now is one whose main game plan is to try and win without pod, with the pod being a bonus that helps you achieve your goal easier. Building around an engine that is very fragile makes for a poor deck.
On the note of "Pod Chaining"... though I originally liked the idea myself, working from 1 to 2 up to 6 or 7 really is slow, and the deck can do so much more. The Pod should be ramp/utility, and podding into anything below 4 really doesn't get you the best returns on the investment of 5 mana and whatever creature you killed.
As said, I've been working on cutting my "chains" in half and including wrath effects to take advantage of the lull around 3-4 mana, with ramp/survivables on one side, bombs on the other, and Solemn with 1 or 2 solid creatures in the middle.
"It also grants you access to [card]Venser, the Sojourner[card], "
"You typically want to run around eightmana producing creatures"
"Snipes opposing [card=Birds of Paradise]Birds, Spirits, CARD=Delver of Secrets]Delvers "
"may be afflicted with -1/-1 tokens" -> "may be afflicted with -1/-1 counters"
I would rewrite "Good Birthing Pod creatures are ones that can abuse this mechanic." as "Good Birthing pod creatures are ones that don't need to stay in play to give you value."
I think this is false, and what separates a good Pod deck from a bad one. A good pod deck right now is one whose main game plan is to try and win without pod, with the pod being a bonus that helps you achieve your goal easier. Building around an engine that is very fragile makes for a poor deck.
Yep this pretty much says it all. Pod is there to increase the consistency of an already consistent deck, and add a bit of degeneracy to the mix as well. Trying to do more just leads to slow inconsistent decks that lose games and matches they should have won if only they didn't draw all those situational cards. Having said that if by some strange occurrence the next set is stuffed full of creatures that let you control the board, and those creatures don't all cost 4-6 mana then just maybe we can see a pod deck that can consistently get out a 7 drop before it gets run over by delver based decks, but I seriously doubt it.
On the note of "Pod Chaining"... though I originally liked the idea myself, working from 1 to 2 up to 6 or 7 really is slow, and the deck can do so much more. The Pod should be ramp/utility, and podding into anything below 4 really doesn't get you the best returns on the investment of mana and whatever creature you killed.
Poding skeletons into messengers, and/or either crusader is generally enough to win the game. I suppose poding skeleton into any 3 drop is decent, but the messengers/crusaders are the best and why play anything other then the best? Podding gravecrawlers into images can also be well worth the investment.
You kids need to remember..this is not an instruction manual on how to play/build pod. Every single angle is not going to be covered. It's a general outline of how pod works, supported with commonly used cards and the logic behind them. There's no reason to point out "You didn't mention ASDF?? Your primer is BAD" or "I think you should word this part differently.."
Bokchoy's primers are far more organized than most on this forum, and he deserves credit where credit is due.
I think this is false, and what separates a good Pod deck from a bad one. A good pod deck right now is one whose main game plan is to try and win without pod, with the pod being a bonus that helps you achieve your goal easier. Building around an engine that is very fragile makes for a poor deck.
Pod without the pods to me is a bad ramp deck. Yes, the deck can still win (although it's not as good at being a ramp deck as Wolf Run). But it's an inferior version of another deck. That was why I was saying it's bad.
Quote from "acvar" »
Poding skeletons into messengers, and/or either crusader is generally enough to win the game. I suppose poding skeleton into any 3 drop is decent, but the messengers/crusaders are the best and why play anything other then the best? Podding gravecrawlers into images can also be well worth the investment.
Running Reassembling Skelton and Mirran Crusader in the same deck does NOT seem to me to be building a good deck that can curve out and win without pod in play. I also think that the BCS you are describing seems like it would barely be able to cope with a standard Delver draw, and thus to me falls far short of being 'the best'.
I also think that Gravecrawler is totally unnecessary as a Phantasmal Image enabler, since 'good' versions of Pod should be running 7+ 1 mana accelerants, which are easily expended to search up an image.
Upcoming updates...
-Typo and formatting fixes. Rewording of bad sentences. Please keep these coming!
-Sideboard options: Which cards, why, and against what?
-General deckbuilding approaches, and common mistakes/misconceptions
-Expanding on color combinations, advantages/disadvantages
-Additions of card suggestions on existing sections.
This won't be done overnight but I'll try my best.
There are also two main different philosophical approaches to Pod (which you neglect to mention). The first is that your 2-3-4 plays serve to stop you losing the game, before your 5-6-7 drops. The second is that your 2-3-4 drops ARE your path to victory, and the titans are an afterthought
I think that's a really good way to put it, and I will add this to the primer.
K won fnm for the past 2 weeks with GBR pod. Don't want to publicate my list but id like to mention the importance or arc trail and spellskites for at least my personal success. The are quite a few People at my shop that run Elesh norn and sheoldred is s fantastic trump.
I run an island to fetch because i play a pair of images. I see no reason to play blue as a 'real' Color in pod.
And Frost Titan isn't just creature removal. Sometimes you can tap your opponent's Kessig Wolf Run or Pod or keep them off a certain color or amount of mana.
Introduction
The History of Birthing Pod
Why Play Birthing Pod?
Color Options
Deck Composition
General Deckbuilding Tips
Competitive Birthing Pod Variants Questions? Comments? Criticism? Fire Away.
Please feel free to post any of your own contributions to this Primer. I will check regularly and update as I see fit.
I would argue that Massacre Wurm is probably THE reason to play black in pod.
And possible Sylviok Replica could be in the 'Role Players' section.
And although I don't like it, some like Beast Within as one of the 'other spells'.
Possible role player: Melira, Sylvok Outcast out of SB vs Infect (yes, some people are still playing it).
Thanks. It was a typo. Copy + Paste makes for many errors.
Fixed a few other things. I will be making a few additions. I've admittedly paid less attention to Blue than other colors.
I feel Vengeful Pharoh works a lot like a black Sunblast Angel.... but I got laughed at when I suggested it in the old pod thread.
Precursor Golem I have seen in some lists.
and Reaper from the Abyss is a Role Player also Grand Architech
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Most builds take an "I can deal with anything" attitude. All that leads to is an inefficient deck that does not deal with anything well. Leave your ability to deal with anything in the sideboard. Use the pod to promote your goal and deal with common problems.
There is a tendency in pod decks to rely too heavily on the pod. I constantly see lists full of cards that nobody would ever play if it were not for the pod. It is all right to put 1 or 2 cards that are just there because of the pod, but when you start getting much over that you just have a pile of junk. Your deck should not look like a highlander deck.
Too many builds take the Timmy route. They want to build up to something big. You just don't have the time to do that. Going from a 3 drop to a 7 drop takes 4 activations of the pod. If you started on turn 4 that means your big bad nasty is coming out on turn 8. Not impressive at all. If you can get 4 activations of the pod your opponent should already be dead not just seeing your real threat. Heck they should be dead on the second or third activation. Your goal is not to do something big. Your goal is to win the game.
Basically pod will not make a bad deck good. It will not make an inconsistent pile consistent, and it will not make dropping fatties in the late game a winning strategy. It can turn an already consistent deck into a very precise killing machine. If you want to play inconsistent piles then play commander, and If you want to play big threats then play removal and countermagic not pod. If you wouldn't build it without the pod then you shouldn't build it just because there is a pod.
Image removed. Spam warning issued.
—Jaya Ballard, task mage
Pod is indeed one of the most fun decks to play, hopefully the deck will continue to see results.
Im sorry but this response came off pretty rude. Im more than willing to accept criticism, and take suggestions but I dont think it is too much to ask for a little bit of respect. "I would like to see a xyz section. It would be very helpful." is constructive and encouraging. "You call that a primer??" is not.
Anyway, I'm working on it. Was 75% done when I completed it, and posted what I had so far. This took me a long time to do, and keep in mind that we've only had this forum up for a few days. It will be an ongoing process.
Thanks for your suggestion and contribution. I will be adding a "common deckbuilding mistakes" section. I also don't think primers discuss a lot about playing the deck. They generally only cover building it. "Birthing Pod" encompasses a wide range of decks that are very different for each other, but I'm sure we can come up with some general play advice.
Everyone: Feel free to suggest any section/content you feel is missing, or even contribute with your own writeup. I'll definitely update your contributions it into the OP.
You need to seriously chill out. The Primer is clearly incomplete at this stage, but Bokchoy has done an excellent job writing up what he has done so far, in a very readable format. It looks like it took alot of work, and I for one am grateful for it.
Actually, your post is just as incomplete as the OP, just in a different way. It's true that there's little value in having early drops that are pod targets (other than Phantasmal Image). However, 4 pods and a fatty effectively gives you FIVE copies of that card in your deck. That's much more consistent than a highlander deck. Plus, cards that have overlapping functions are the same category of cards (just like in a control deck, you have categories for counters, card draw, finishers etc)
There are also two main different philosophical approaches to Pod (which you neglect to mention). The first is that your 2-3-4 plays serve to stop you losing the game, before your 5-6-7 drops. The second is that your 2-3-4 drops ARE your path to victory, and the titans are an afterthought. So a 4 drop like Hero of Bladehold might be quite a good choice for the 'aggro' versions that are trying to win with early beatsticks, while it's a terrible card for the people who want to win with Sun Titan.
The OP already implicitly covers this by separating cards into the 'Main Creatures' and 'Other' sections. The area of convergence where everybody should be able to agree is the 'main players' section, and the value of the creatures in the 'Other' section will fluctuate depending on the intent of the deck it's being included in.
What you say is true, however, I suspect that you are meaning your statement to apply to decks where I think you just don't understand what the lines of play for that deck are.
Yeah, I think that this arguement is ultimately a false one. Every pod deck that doesn't draw it's pod is a 'bad' one in the current metagame. Perhaps we just have different definitions of what 'bad' is.
So, in conclusion, thanks for your inflammatory post. I doubt that I would have posted all of that if you had not
I think this is false, and what separates a good Pod deck from a bad one. A good pod deck right now is one whose main game plan is to try and win without pod, with the pod being a bonus that helps you achieve your goal easier. Building around an engine that is very fragile makes for a poor deck.
GUB The Mimeoplasm GUB
RGW Mayael the Anima RGW
GGG Seton, Krosan Protector GGG
As said, I've been working on cutting my "chains" in half and including wrath effects to take advantage of the lull around 3-4 mana, with ramp/survivables on one side, bombs on the other, and Solemn with 1 or 2 solid creatures in the middle.
"It also grants you access to [card]Venser, the Sojourner[card], "
"You typically want to run around eightmana producing creatures"
"Snipes opposing [card=Birds of Paradise]Birds, Spirits, CARD=Delver of Secrets]Delvers "
"may be afflicted with -1/-1 tokens" -> "may be afflicted with -1/-1 counters"
I would rewrite "Good Birthing Pod creatures are ones that can abuse this mechanic." as "Good Birthing pod creatures are ones that don't need to stay in play to give you value."
Yep this pretty much says it all. Pod is there to increase the consistency of an already consistent deck, and add a bit of degeneracy to the mix as well. Trying to do more just leads to slow inconsistent decks that lose games and matches they should have won if only they didn't draw all those situational cards. Having said that if by some strange occurrence the next set is stuffed full of creatures that let you control the board, and those creatures don't all cost 4-6 mana then just maybe we can see a pod deck that can consistently get out a 7 drop before it gets run over by delver based decks, but I seriously doubt it.
Poding skeletons into messengers, and/or either crusader is generally enough to win the game. I suppose poding skeleton into any 3 drop is decent, but the messengers/crusaders are the best and why play anything other then the best? Podding gravecrawlers into images can also be well worth the investment.
Excellent work as usual.
You kids need to remember..this is not an instruction manual on how to play/build pod. Every single angle is not going to be covered. It's a general outline of how pod works, supported with commonly used cards and the logic behind them. There's no reason to point out "You didn't mention ASDF?? Your primer is BAD" or "I think you should word this part differently.."
Bokchoy's primers are far more organized than most on this forum, and he deserves credit where credit is due.
Draft My Cube!
Pod without the pods to me is a bad ramp deck. Yes, the deck can still win (although it's not as good at being a ramp deck as Wolf Run). But it's an inferior version of another deck. That was why I was saying it's bad.
Running Reassembling Skelton and Mirran Crusader in the same deck does NOT seem to me to be building a good deck that can curve out and win without pod in play. I also think that the BCS you are describing seems like it would barely be able to cope with a standard Delver draw, and thus to me falls far short of being 'the best'.
I also think that Gravecrawler is totally unnecessary as a Phantasmal Image enabler, since 'good' versions of Pod should be running 7+ 1 mana accelerants, which are easily expended to search up an image.
-Typo and formatting fixes. Rewording of bad sentences. Please keep these coming!
-Sideboard options: Which cards, why, and against what?
-General deckbuilding approaches, and common mistakes/misconceptions
-Expanding on color combinations, advantages/disadvantages
-Additions of card suggestions on existing sections.
This won't be done overnight but I'll try my best.
Feel free to offer suggestions and insight.
vs Titans (1-2 cards)
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Acidic Slime
1 Sylvok Replica
1 Viridian Corrupter
1 Leonin Relic-Warder
2 Naturalize
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Karn Liberated
1 Sun Titan
2 Stonehorn Dignitary
2 Venser, the Sojourner
2 Vorapede
1 Batterskull
1 Hollowhenge Scavenger
1 Ray of Revelation
4 Ratchet Bomb
1 Daybreak Ranger
4 Timely Reinforcements
4 Mental Misstep
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Acidic Slime
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Autumn's Veil (or the 2nd Grudge)
2 Hero of Bladehold
3 Mental Misstep
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Ray of Revelation
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Thrun, the Last Troll (or Vorapede)
1 Tormentor Exarch
There are other things that I think are decent like Mimic Vat and SoWaP, but they didn't show up at the PT.
I think that's a really good way to put it, and I will add this to the primer.
I run an island to fetch because i play a pair of images. I see no reason to play blue as a 'real' Color in pod.
Will work on Sideboard and more discussion of color combinations next...
Duly noted and thanks!