I wanted to find a deck for my foil Sunforger for the longest freaking time. Kher Keep was one of the first cards I thought of in my initial lists as dorks to hold the Sunforger, and when I thought of the tokens my thoughts wandered to Skullclamp.
So, why Oros? Well, Kaalia of the Vast is overdone a deck that needs its own shell and shouldn't concern itself with trying to get cute with Sunforger. I settled on Oros over Tariel, Reckoner of Souls because it was easy to fit Basilisk Collar into the list, and Oros with a Collar on it is just stupid.
How does one play this deck?
This deck grinds opponents into the dust by sticking Stonehewer Giant, keeping mana open, and responding to everything right down to your opponent breathing.
You give your creatures every toy imaginable to beat your opponents senseless with, and grind opponents out of cards and answers. When that's done and you have enough mana, cast Oros, suit him up, and go to town. If you have 5 power in equipment, casting Boros Charm will one-shot an opponent; with Mistveil Plains, you can continue your rampage and rinse and repeat for each opponent until nobody's left standing.
Nuances of the Deck
-Get Mistveil Plains out early and do your best to set it up. It lets you recycle all your Sunforger targets and recycles the Sunforger itself with the help of Stonehewer Giant.
-Remember that Kher Keep can spawn you tokens to Skullclamp for card advantage.
-Hide / SeekWRECKS combo-based strategies. Always remember that you can snipe key combo pieces from your opponents.
-Wing Shards recycled with Mistveil Plains can make it pretty hard for opponents to mount a counterattack against you.
-A weakness this deck has is effects that exile your Sunforger. Fight this by redirecting the effects that target with Wild Ricochet, or when hit by a sweeper that exiles, use a spot removal spell to destroy it or shuffle it into your library.
-Prioritize Sword of Feast and Famine. If you can get an attack in with it, you can not only cast multiple spells off Sunforger if Leonin Shikari is in play, but you can use Mistveil Plains to recycle excess Sunforger targets in your graveyard and make tokens with Kher Keep. (Also, always cast Boros Charm if you can connect an attack with the Sword for double untaps!)
-If you have nothing else to do with Sunforger, assess your situation. If you're not worried about instant-speed removal, cast something; otherwise, sit tight. If you need mana, casting Tithe is always viable. Otherwise, cast Hide / Seek to snipe key cards from opponents.
-If you're holding a board wipe in hand and you have an active Sunforger, you can always respond to your own Wrath by casting Boros Charm to make your permanents indestructible.
-Updated the nuances section after someone on Tumblr reminded me that Rings of Brighthearth doesn't work with Oros, the Avenger. That's what I get for writing this list when I'm dead-tired. x.X
Seemed like an obvious cut; wanted to test it, but it seems weaker than all of the other Clamp targets. Faith's Reward is good to have in hand already, but it's a strong tutor when they blow up something of yours that's really important.
-Fixed the name of Hide / Seek.
-Updated the How to Play section.
-Updated the Nuances of the Deck section.
-Updated the Changes Log section.
Massive update. Too much to explain. Haven't touched this list in a while, but I'm putting it into rotation so an update of this scale is necessary if I want to be doing that. Boop.
1/24/2013:
-Fixed the deck; had not added Orim's Thunder previously.
During initial testing, I found that Brass Squire was underwhelming overall, and that you always had a wealth of Skullclamp targets without having Rise of the Hobgoblins. The biggest problem I felt the deck had was Stonehewer Giant's transition from the best card in the deck to completely useless. I wanted to add more equipment to the deck to help make it and the Equipment package more worthwhile. Having Mask and Ring in the deck helps keep the equipment package consistently alive.
Guess who had a fantastic time at the prerelease and made some really busted trades? THIS GUY.
Basically, while I mostly do budget, if you've got it, flaunt it, right? Might as well put these somewhere, especially because they really make the deck work that much better.
To be honest, I wanted Ricochet Trap as an assurance against counterspells, but it wasn't doing its job properly. I subbed it out for Ghostway, a card that can effectively nullify sweepers while also giving me added value on Stoneforge Mystic, Sun Titan and Mentor of the Meek.
Mortify was a card I was having an issue finding, so I subbed it out for a Sword of Feast and Famine, which I'll be acquiring soon.
I was having trouble locating another Lightning Greaves for this deck, and I wanted a target for my Orzhov Charm, so I figured I'd acquire the best one.
I'd been contemplating removing Sorin for a long time. Despite the fact that the tokens he creates have lifelink, he's often a target and I found that whenever I cast him, I got an emblem out of him and he just died. He's a niche walker and I really want to find that niche, but it's not happening here. He's just an awkward draw overall. Vicious Shadows more often than not found itself having the same problem, sitting in my hand awkwardly and not doing anything immediately when cast. Despite being a deck with a Skullclamp package, unlike my other decks with Skullclamp packages, you don't actively tutor the Skullclamp package, making Vicious Shadows a much less powerful card overall.
The problems this deck had was early color screw and lack of getting the Mistveil Plains engine going, making Tithe an obvious include for that reason, with three extremely attractive nonbasic options. The Hedge-Mage was a filler slot for a long time, but playing with it has opted me to include it in the actual 99 - the card is one of my favorite red/white cards just for being not only an amazing 2-for-1, but it's a body that can hold Sunforger and loves Ghostway to bits.
-Updated the intro section.
-Updated the Nuances of the Deck section.
For the longest time, I've been having inconsistent draws left and right with this deck. I think what the problem is is that I'm trying to do too much at once, so I'm cutting cards that have rarely or never been cast off Sunforger and replacing them with actually useful creatures to hold the Equipment I tend to draw on empty board states. These are the best I could come up with in lieu of the lack of Weathered Wayfarers at my LGS.
In lieu of Dragon's Maze editing my decks currently in rotation, the Jitte that was in what was formerly my Radha deck has been shifted over to here. I think it'll be right at home here, spelling doom for utility dorks and working extremely well with the various double strike enablers at my disposal.
Basically, Leave No Trace always felt like an inferior option to Return to Dust or Orim's Thunder with no Enchantress decks poisoning my meta (though I'll fully recommend you keep LNT if you have an enchantress deck you want to take down!), and for some reason I thought my Lazav deck would be grabbing my retired Vela shell's Demonic Tutor. In lieu of that, I've added it to what is already my most powerful deck, because why not?
The additions make little sense next to each other, but Renounce felt like an extremely strong metagame call when everyone just plays monocolored spells next to their fancy multicolor general. There are enough targets in this deck for it that it seems iffy, so I'll see how it plays and if it's not cost-effective enough I'll undo the addition. It feels really powerful in a vacuum, however.
Tajic seems like a sweet upgrade to Darksteel Myr, since he can actually do a high amount of damage and doesn't just flop around like a fish out of water when holding Umezawa's Jitte.
-Updated the format of the deck.
-Updated the Nuances of the Deck section.
I FOUND A WAYFARER. I AM HAPPY.
A lot of problems have been happening with this deck recently. You either draw great, go off and completely crush the board under your feet, or you fall flat and do nothing. (Have I mentioned I hate Imperial Recruiter's price tag yet?)
I took out cards I felt did nothing. Where I feel Frontline Medic and Staff of Nin have done very interesting shenanigans in theory with High Priest of Penance, it's really hard to justify both of them when they're really both not that great overall (Staff of Nin costing 6 really hurts), and honestly, Expedition Map was always tutoring Arid Mesa, which is when you know you have a dead card. Treasury Thrull is just inferior to Sun Titan on every front except it's a source of lifegain, which is where Batterskull and Basilisk Collar outshine it.
I've been wanting to update my Aurelia list and play it, but I think moving most of its key suspects here is a better plan, to be honest.
Plus, I have more targets for Orzhov Charm, which is always great!
A huge update to the manabase was in store for a while. Basically, I'm unhinging myself from this idea that I'm going to update reactively instead of proactively and telling myself "GO PURCHASE THE THINGS". The duals are obviously the most ambitious, but in the perfect world, the Vivid cycle is inferior to them in every way. (In some games, I run out of Tithe or Kor Cartographer targets, which is always awkward.)
Aside from that, just adding in better cards. Getting a Sword this Wednesday; really excited for that, it's been a long time coming!
It's that time again, where I look through what's working and what isn't. I'm going to be frank here, the deck is getting to the point where people are legitimately terrified of it, and it's getting a reputation, but for the most part, I'm able to crush entire tables with impunity. I got the absolute freaking nuts draw earlier this week (turn 1 Sol Ring -> Jitte, turn 2 Elspeth, turn 3 Sword of Fire and Ice. I got the emblem, drew absolutely insane, it was absurd.), but regardless, there's one glaring problem this deck has - incremental damage. You don't want to waste Sunforger's activations dealing with something that's not imperative to deal with when you only get one activation per round.
To compensate, I'm bringing in two high-value lifelinkers to help keep my life total pretty high. For a long time, I've considered the deck's weakest card to be Batterskull, but I literally can't replace it at this point, because it just does way too much to keep me alive, and it makes opening on Stoneforge Mystic oh so sweet.
My LGS can't find a Devoted Caretaker, and I've honestly considered Fencing Ace because of how much the deck just needs a solid double strike body for all of the Equipment. It didn't even dawn on me that the Duelist existed until I searched double strike on Gatherer. D'oh!
The cut of Reassembling Skeleton may seem strange, but more often than not, the activation can be difficult to manage when the deck needs to manage its mana extremely effectively in order to not misstep. Besides, the deck's testing generates enough tokens that the Skeleton keeps getting phased out and is a poor draw lategame. As for the Scythe, it just didn't do enough - it had its moments, but it was overall really swingy. The equip cost was what put the nail in the coffin, really.
Getting started early on them spoilers - the scry duals are solid as heck overall, looking forward to testing them!
Just a note on Master Warcraft: last I checked (which was a few days ago as I was scouring forums for Sunforger ideas), in multiplayer, the card lets you choose what creatures attack, but not WHO they attack. It's the active player who chooses.
Which makes it much much less useful and it's because of this that I don't run it.
@Pyramus: I think that the deck may benefit from it, but the only creature that's threatened by Oros is Sheoldred, Whispering One.
@Autumnowl23: I think the card can still be used even if it's a Fog. You can use it in clumped board states to force utility creatures to attack into bigger guys, so I dunno. I still think it warrants inclusion.
It's expensive, but I liked running Sword of Kaldra in my Oros list. Fire Covenant was a decent Sunforger target, as well.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
On Mythic Rares: "What's next, Wizards will print six golden Black Lotuses and randomly place them in boosters, and if someone gets one, they get to tour the Wizards facility?"
6 Oros, the Avenger
The Goods - 14
3 Sunforger
1 Condemn
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Tithe
2 Boros Charm
2 Hide / Seek
2 Rakdos Charm
3 Backlash
3 Chaos Warp
3 Ghostway
3 Orim's Thunder
3 Wing Shards
4 Return to Dust
4 Wild Ricochet
The Goodstuff
1 Figure of Destiny
1 Kor Duelist
1 Mother of Runes
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Serra Ascendant
2 Grand Abolisher
2 Leonin Shikari
3 Athreos, God of Passage
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Hero of Bladehold
4 Iroas, God of Victory
4 Purphoros, God of the Forge
4 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
4 Tajic, Blade of the Legion
5 Assemble the Legion
5 Divinity of Pride
5 Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
5 Urabrask the Hidden
6 Aurelia, the Warleader
3 Duregar Hedge-Mage
3 Karmic Justice
4 Grave Pact
4 Mogis, God of Slaughter
6 Austere Command
9 Blasphemous Act
Acceleration
1 Sol Ring
2 Boros Signet
2 Orzhov Signet
2 Rakdos Signet
3 Chromatic Lantern
4 Solemn Simulacrum
Tutors & Card Draw
1 Weathered Wayfarer
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Puresteel Paladin
2 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Phyrexian Arena
4 Diabolic Tutor
4 Ranger of Eos
5 Stonehewer Giant
Equipment
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Skullclamp
2 Swiftfoot Boots
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Sword of War and Peace
Basic Lands - 5
2 Mountain
2 Plains
1 Swamp
Nonbasic Lands - 33
0 Arid Mesa
0 Badlands
0 Blood Crypt
0 Bloodstained Mire
0 Bojuka Bog
0 Cabal Coffers
0 Clifftop Retreat
0 Command Tower
0 Dragonskull Summit
0 Fetid Heath
0 Godless Shrine
0 Graven Cairns
0 Isolated Chapel
0 Kher Keep
0 Marsh Flats
0 Mistveil Plains
0 Plateau
0 Reflecting Pool
0 Rugged Prairie
0 Sacred Foundry
0 Scrubland
0 Shadowblood Ridge
0 Tainted Field
0 Tainted Peak
0 Temple of Malice
0 Temple of Silence
0 Temple of the False God
0 Temple of Triumph
0 Thespian's Stage
0 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
0 Vault of the Archangel
0 Volrath's Stronghold
0 Windbrisk Heights
Why Oros, the Avenger?
So, why Oros? Well, Kaalia of the Vast is
overdonea deck that needs its own shell and shouldn't concern itself with trying to get cute with Sunforger. I settled on Oros over Tariel, Reckoner of Souls because it was easy to fit Basilisk Collar into the list, and Oros with a Collar on it is just stupid.How does one play this deck?
You give your creatures every toy imaginable to beat your opponents senseless with, and grind opponents out of cards and answers. When that's done and you have enough mana, cast Oros, suit him up, and go to town. If you have 5 power in equipment, casting Boros Charm will one-shot an opponent; with Mistveil Plains, you can continue your rampage and rinse and repeat for each opponent until nobody's left standing.
Nuances of the Deck
-Remember that Kher Keep can spawn you tokens to Skullclamp for card advantage.
-Hide / Seek WRECKS combo-based strategies. Always remember that you can snipe key combo pieces from your opponents.
-Wing Shards recycled with Mistveil Plains can make it pretty hard for opponents to mount a counterattack against you.
-A weakness this deck has is effects that exile your Sunforger. Fight this by redirecting the effects that target with Wild Ricochet, or when hit by a sweeper that exiles, use a spot removal spell to destroy it or shuffle it into your library.
-Prioritize Sword of Feast and Famine. If you can get an attack in with it, you can not only cast multiple spells off Sunforger if Leonin Shikari is in play, but you can use Mistveil Plains to recycle excess Sunforger targets in your graveyard and make tokens with Kher Keep. (Also, always cast Boros Charm if you can connect an attack with the Sword for double untaps!)
-If you have nothing else to do with Sunforger, assess your situation. If you're not worried about instant-speed removal, cast something; otherwise, sit tight. If you need mana, casting Tithe is always viable. Otherwise, cast Hide / Seek to snipe key cards from opponents.
-If you're holding a board wipe in hand and you have an active Sunforger, you can always respond to your own Wrath by casting Boros Charm to make your permanents indestructible.
-Remember that Aurelia, the Warleader unconditionally untaps your creatures when she attacks, making her very powerful with Stonehewer Giant, Weathered Wayfarer, Stoneforge Mystic and others.
Changes Log
5/10/2012:
5/23/2012:
8/11/2012:
Faith's Reward
-Removed:
Doomed Traveler
Seemed like an obvious cut; wanted to test it, but it seems weaker than all of the other Clamp targets. Faith's Reward is good to have in hand already, but it's a strong tutor when they blow up something of yours that's really important.
1/21/2013:
Ricochet Trap
Rakdos Charm
Orim's Thunder
Boros Charm
Orzhov Charm
Homing Lightning
Leonin Shikari
High Priest of Penance
Treasury Thrull
Darksteel Myr
Brass Squire
Mentor of the Meek
Frontline Medic
Vizkopa Guildmage
Merciless Eviction
Austere Command
Blasphemous Act
Chromatic Lantern
Boros Keyrune
Orzhov Keyrune
Rakdos Keyrune
Staff of Nin
Assemble the Legion
Rise of the Hobgoblins
Underworld Connections
Grave Pact
True Conviction
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Mountain
Boros Guildgate
Orzhov Guildgate
Thespian's Stage
Fetid Heath
Buried Ruin
Ancient Amphitheater
Transguild Promenade
-Removed:
Cauldron Haze
Ghostway
Volcanic Fallout
Godo, Bandit Warlord
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Anger
Arcbound Reclaimer
Hoarding Dragon
Solemn Simulacrum
Stoneforge Mystic
Ashes to Ashes
Bessech the Queen
Day of Judgment
Final Judgment
Steelshaper's Gift
Terminus
Boros Signet
Coalition Relic
Nim Deathmantle
Orzhov Signet
Rakdos Signet
Relic of Progenitus
Rings of Brighthearth
Sol Ring
Sword of Feast and Famine
Debtor's Knell
Phyrexian Arena
Sacred Mesa
Swamp
Battlefield Forge
Caves of Koilos
Isolated Chapel
Kor Haven
Slayers' Stronghold
Sulfurous Springs
Volrath's Stronghold
-Fixed the name of Hide / Seek.
-Updated the How to Play section.
-Updated the Nuances of the Deck section.
-Updated the Changes Log section.
Massive update. Too much to explain. Haven't touched this list in a while, but I'm putting it into rotation so an update of this scale is necessary if I want to be doing that. Boop.
1/24/2013:
1/25/2013:
Mask of Avacyn
Rakdos Riteknife
Ring of Xathrid
-Removed:
Brass Squire
Rise of the Hobgoblins
True Conviction
During initial testing, I found that Brass Squire was underwhelming overall, and that you always had a wealth of Skullclamp targets without having Rise of the Hobgoblins. The biggest problem I felt the deck had was Stonehewer Giant's transition from the best card in the deck to completely useless. I wanted to add more equipment to the deck to help make it and the Equipment package more worthwhile. Having Mask and Ring in the deck helps keep the equipment package consistently alive.
1/27/2013:
Stoneforge Mystic
Sword of War and Peace
Batterskull
Blood Crypt
Godless Shrine
Sacred Foundry
-Removed:
Vizkopa Guildmage
Rakdos Riteknife
Ring of Xathrid
Plains
Swamp
Transguild Promenade
Guess who had a fantastic time at the prerelease and made some really busted trades? THIS GUY.
Basically, while I mostly do budget, if you've got it, flaunt it, right? Might as well put these somewhere, especially because they really make the deck work that much better.
1/28/2013:
Ghostway
Sword of Feast and Famine
-Removed:
Mortify
Ricochet Trap
-Edited the Nuances of the Deck section.
To be honest, I wanted Ricochet Trap as an assurance against counterspells, but it wasn't doing its job properly. I subbed it out for Ghostway, a card that can effectively nullify sweepers while also giving me added value on Stoneforge Mystic, Sun Titan and Mentor of the Meek.
Mortify was a card I was having an issue finding, so I subbed it out for a Sword of Feast and Famine, which I'll be acquiring soon.
2/24/2013:
Mother of Runes
-Removed:
Lightning Greaves
I was having trouble locating another Lightning Greaves for this deck, and I wanted a target for my Orzhov Charm, so I figured I'd acquire the best one.
2/28/2013:
Tithe
Duergar Hedge-Mage
-Removed:
Vicious Shadows
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
I'd been contemplating removing Sorin for a long time. Despite the fact that the tokens he creates have lifelink, he's often a target and I found that whenever I cast him, I got an emblem out of him and he just died. He's a niche walker and I really want to find that niche, but it's not happening here. He's just an awkward draw overall. Vicious Shadows more often than not found itself having the same problem, sitting in my hand awkwardly and not doing anything immediately when cast. Despite being a deck with a Skullclamp package, unlike my other decks with Skullclamp packages, you don't actively tutor the Skullclamp package, making Vicious Shadows a much less powerful card overall.
The problems this deck had was early color screw and lack of getting the Mistveil Plains engine going, making Tithe an obvious include for that reason, with three extremely attractive nonbasic options. The Hedge-Mage was a filler slot for a long time, but playing with it has opted me to include it in the actual 99 - the card is one of my favorite red/white cards just for being not only an amazing 2-for-1, but it's a body that can hold Sunforger and loves Ghostway to bits.
4/10/2013:
Grand Abolisher
Leonin Abunas
Kor Cartographer
World Queller
-Removed:
Master Warcraft
Unmake
Oblation
Mask of Avacyn
-Updated the intro section.
-Updated the Nuances of the Deck section.
For the longest time, I've been having inconsistent draws left and right with this deck. I think what the problem is is that I'm trying to do too much at once, so I'm cutting cards that have rarely or never been cast off Sunforger and replacing them with actually useful creatures to hold the Equipment I tend to draw on empty board states. These are the best I could come up with in lieu of the lack of Weathered Wayfarers at my LGS.
4/15/2013:
Umezawa's Jitte
-Removed:
Merciless Eviction
-Updated the How to Play section.
In lieu of Dragon's Maze editing my decks currently in rotation, the Jitte that was in what was formerly my Radha deck has been shifted over to here. I think it'll be right at home here, spelling doom for utility dorks and working extremely well with the various double strike enablers at my disposal.
4/17/2013:
Demonic Tutor
-Removed:
Leave No Trace
-Updated the Nuances of the Deck section.
Basically, Leave No Trace always felt like an inferior option to Return to Dust or Orim's Thunder with no Enchantress decks poisoning my meta (though I'll fully recommend you keep LNT if you have an enchantress deck you want to take down!), and for some reason I thought my Lazav deck would be grabbing my retired Vela shell's Demonic Tutor. In lieu of that, I've added it to what is already my most powerful deck, because why not?
4/23/2013:
Renounce the Guilds
Tajic, Blade of the Legion
-Removed:
Faith's Reward
Darksteel Myr
The additions make little sense next to each other, but Renounce felt like an extremely strong metagame call when everyone just plays monocolored spells next to their fancy multicolor general. There are enough targets in this deck for it that it seems iffy, so I'll see how it plays and if it's not cost-effective enough I'll undo the addition. It feels really powerful in a vacuum, however.
Tajic seems like a sweet upgrade to Darksteel Myr, since he can actually do a high amount of damage and doesn't just flop around like a fish out of water when holding Umezawa's Jitte.
8/1/2013:
Devoted Caretaker
Figure of Destiny
Weathered Wayfarer
Firemane Avenger
Hero of Bladehold
Ranger of Eos
Aurelia, the Warleader
Scythe of the Wretched
Battlefield Forge
-Removed:
Bloodghast
Frontline Medic
World Queller
Treasury Thrull
Expedition Map
Darksteel Ingot
Staff of Nin
Buried Ruin
Terramorphic Expanse
-Updated the format of the deck.
-Updated the Nuances of the Deck section.
I FOUND A WAYFARER. I AM HAPPY.
A lot of problems have been happening with this deck recently. You either draw great, go off and completely crush the board under your feet, or you fall flat and do nothing. (Have I mentioned I hate Imperial Recruiter's price tag yet?)
I took out cards I felt did nothing. Where I feel Frontline Medic and Staff of Nin have done very interesting shenanigans in theory with High Priest of Penance, it's really hard to justify both of them when they're really both not that great overall (Staff of Nin costing 6 really hurts), and honestly, Expedition Map was always tutoring Arid Mesa, which is when you know you have a dead card. Treasury Thrull is just inferior to Sun Titan on every front except it's a source of lifegain, which is where Batterskull and Basilisk Collar outshine it.
I've been wanting to update my Aurelia list and play it, but I think moving most of its key suspects here is a better plan, to be honest.
Plus, I have more targets for Orzhov Charm, which is always great!
8/5/2013:
Sol Ring
Sword of Fire and Ice
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Rugged Prairie
Graven Cairns
Plateau
Badlands
Scrubland
City of Brass
Isolated Chapel
Temple of the False God
-Removed:
Rakdos Keyrune
Chain Reaction
High Priest of Penance
Vivid Marsh
Vivid Meadow
Vivid Crag
Akoum Refuge
Boros Guildgate
Orzhov Guildgate
Battlefield Forge
Evolving Wilds
A huge update to the manabase was in store for a while. Basically, I'm unhinging myself from this idea that I'm going to update reactively instead of proactively and telling myself "GO PURCHASE THE THINGS". The duals are obviously the most ambitious, but in the perfect world, the Vivid cycle is inferior to them in every way. (In some games, I run out of Tithe or Kor Cartographer targets, which is always awkward.)
Aside from that, just adding in better cards. Getting a Sword this Wednesday; really excited for that, it's been a long time coming!
8/8/2013:
Vedalken Orrery
Battlefield Forge
Reflecting Pool
-Removed:
Identity Crisis
Mountain
Plains
9/6/2013:
Divinity of Pride
Serra Ascendant
Kor Duelist
Ancient Tomb
Temple of Silence
Temple of Triumph
-Removed:
Reassembling Skeleton
Devoted Caretaker
Scythe of the Wretched
Swamp
Orzhov Basilica
Rakdos Carnarium
-Updated the Why Oros section.
It's that time again, where I look through what's working and what isn't. I'm going to be frank here, the deck is getting to the point where people are legitimately terrified of it, and it's getting a reputation, but for the most part, I'm able to crush entire tables with impunity. I got the absolute freaking nuts draw earlier this week (turn 1 Sol Ring -> Jitte, turn 2 Elspeth, turn 3 Sword of Fire and Ice. I got the emblem, drew absolutely insane, it was absurd.), but regardless, there's one glaring problem this deck has - incremental damage. You don't want to waste Sunforger's activations dealing with something that's not imperative to deal with when you only get one activation per round.
To compensate, I'm bringing in two high-value lifelinkers to help keep my life total pretty high. For a long time, I've considered the deck's weakest card to be Batterskull, but I literally can't replace it at this point, because it just does way too much to keep me alive, and it makes opening on Stoneforge Mystic oh so sweet.
My LGS can't find a Devoted Caretaker, and I've honestly considered Fencing Ace because of how much the deck just needs a solid double strike body for all of the Equipment. It didn't even dawn on me that the Duelist existed until I searched double strike on Gatherer. D'oh!
The cut of Reassembling Skeleton may seem strange, but more often than not, the activation can be difficult to manage when the deck needs to manage its mana extremely effectively in order to not misstep. Besides, the deck's testing generates enough tokens that the Skeleton keeps getting phased out and is a poor draw lategame. As for the Scythe, it just didn't do enough - it had its moments, but it was overall really swingy. The equip cost was what put the nail in the coffin, really.
Getting started early on them spoilers - the scry duals are solid as heck overall, looking forward to testing them!
4/25/2014:
Backlash
Mogis, God of Slaughter
Iroas, God of Victory
Athreos, God of Passage
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Rakdos Signet
Boros Signet
Orzhov Signet
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
Solemn Simulacrum
Urabrask the Hidden
Phyrexian Arena
Karmic Justice
Sensei's Divining Top
Brimaz, King of Oreskos
Bloodstained Mire
Volrath's Stronghold
Windbrisk Heights
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Cabal Coffers
Shadowblood Ridge
Temple of Malice
-Removed:
Orzhov Charm
Renounce the Guilds
Homing Lightning
Leonin Abunas
Vedalken Orrery
Firemane Avenger
Mentor of the Meek
Batterskull
Darksteel Plate
Boros Keyrune
Orzhov Keyrune
Kor Cartographer
Increasing Ambition
Sun Titan
Underworld Connections
Battlefield Forge
Plains
Ancient Amphitheater
Ancient Tomb
Boros Garrison
City of Brass
Reliquary Tower
Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
-Updated the How to Play section.
-Updated the Nuances of the Deck section.
whoops ninja mass update
wanted to keep a black Sunforger list around just to see how I'd pilot it
Input is appreciated as always!
Which makes it much much less useful and it's because of this that I don't run it.
@Autumnowl23: I think the card can still be used even if it's a Fog. You can use it in clumped board states to force utility creatures to attack into bigger guys, so I dunno. I still think it warrants inclusion.
I was thinking about Eternal Dragon. I'm not sure, I guess I'll add it to the maybe list.
As for Lyzolda, I feel she's her own deck and I shouldn't put her in here. Just a matter of preference, I suppose.
On Mythic Rares: "What's next, Wizards will print six golden Black Lotuses and randomly place them in boosters, and if someone gets one, they get to tour the Wizards facility?"
Wydwen|Edric|Sakashima|Marrow-Gnawer|Hazezon
8.5 Tails|Seton|Rasputin|Doran|Gisela|Karona|Márton
Thanks,
~L