I started out U/W, but then decided the U was just too underwhelming. Yes you have Tamiyo and Spirit away, but the mill just isn't going to work in these numbers. Also white is good, but it wants aggro, whilst blue wants to sit back and control to a mill victory. It's just not going to work
I ended up R/W aggro, but I'm going to take another look at green to see if that might be the better second color choice. I eschewed almost all of my removal for an aggressive strategy that I think will be able to win before the opponent can get off the ground.
Hm...I'm second guessing on Commander's Authority here. I should probably cut it for either a removal spell or another creature. Sure it's token swarm, but it's just so expensive. On the other hand if I do get stalled out, it gives me an ever increasing board position to eventually break the stalemate. Decisions, decisions... I'll keep it and just call it my backup plan. On the other-other hand I can't deal with bombs anyway...I dunno.
Let's see what Green's got for me.
It's really hard to fill in the last two creature slots, but I guessDiregraf Escort and Wildwood Geist will do in a pinch. I don't like flowering lumberknot with only 5 soulbond creatures. Sure when it works it will be a 5/5 beater, but when it doesn't work, it will be a dead card.
If someone could share their opinion on my decks (and on my opinions on my decks) this week I'd be greatly appreciative. Thanks.
******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** From Mark Rosewater's Tumblr:
the0uroboros asked: How in the same set can we have a hexproof, unsacrificable(not a word) creature AND a land that makes it uncounterable. How does this lead to interactive play?
I believe I’m able to play my creature and you have to deal with it is much more interactive than you counter my creature. ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Post #777
There are several ways to construct a deck from this pool. Overall the weekest color looked to be black. Initially I went with WG because it looked like it comboed well together. I also though about UW, but Wolfir Avenger pushed me into green as a definite color. I like the flying in white, but it only offers 3 fliers. There are 2 white cards that I really want to play, so decided to splash white and UG as my main colors. This makes the strongest deck.
Blue has a couple of fliers, but several forms of control that will eliminate the blockers. It doesn't have the aggro creatures white has, but it should be able to hold the opponent's creatures off long enough to establish my board. Green has some aggressive creatures that can get some early damage in, and can slow opponent's attacks down. Havengul Skaab combos will with Timberland Guide , Borderland Ranger and Angel's Tomb . Although not as fast as cloud shift, it stays for more than a 1-of spell. With the Skaab and the Guide comboing, it can make Wandering Wolf a very large threat.
A RW deck may be interesting to play. Red has some cards that would combo well with the white humans. It also looks to be a very good aggro deck. Although black is the weakest color overall, it has one of the best creatures in the pool, Demonlord of Ashmouth . It may make a nice deck with blue or red. Either UB or BR would be a control/tempo deck. Not sure they would win as many games, but it would be fun to build them.
I feel that the blue rares are a trap- the rest of U is not gonna do much. Red looked great and I haven't had the chance to try it yet but a deck with a critical mass of soulbound creatures has got to be good- so R/G. 2 wolfir avengers! I fell about 2 cards short though so splashed one plains with the ranger for the kill spells- and that X spell can win games by itself.
I noticed a lot of people built blue decks- here's why I didn't. 1. all that ghostly and chilly stuff really doesn't change the board state- can only help if you are already in good shape. 2. Fettergeist, Tamiyo, and Grasp are good but fetter is going to mess with your curve terribly and the rares are slow.
My only regret is that it's light on creatures and can probably get dumb draws that don't do anything, but that's Magic for you.
I just finished and realized my list was practically the same as yours, nice. There are a few changes:
1. Having 2 white sources isn't enough to support your three white cards, especially because two of them are early-game cards. Half the time you'll be waiting into mid/later game to draw a white source, when you'd much rather be casting bigger creatures than bad Shocks. Also, you're missing one good soulbond creature in the pool for your Flowering Lumberknot. -2 Righteous Blow +1 Wildwood Geist +1 Geist Trappers
2. Uncanny Speed isn't great; Pillar of Flame, Thunderbolt and Thunderous Wrath will almost always be more useful. Swap it for the sneaky and always playable land-aura to ensure that, with three white sources, you can always cast Divine Deflection. Like you said, it wins games, and making those game-wins more reliable is key when it comes to limited. -1 Uncanny Speed +1 Abundant Growth
3. Hitting your Wolfs on turn three is more important (on average) than your turn four vampire or dragon. You have more green than red anyway, and with Abundant Growth in the mix you have more flexibility. To make a long story short, -1 Mountain +1 Forest
This deck is terrible, even worse that I'm going to a midnight release tonight. Guess I'd better build something better there. I don't think mill is possible, but I put it in, then added green for creature support, and continued on to white since it had such good cards. I should know better, less is generally more.
I was keeping green in my deck for ages during the build (double Wolfir Avengers ) but decided to cut them for this very aggressive red-white build.
I do not understand why everybody is so amazed by the blue in the pool. Tamiyo is good when she is good and Spirit Away can obviously win games if you can get to play it (which means you have to build a deck that stalls, which the pool has mediocre support for). But what more is there that is properly playable in blue? Two Amass the Components and one Mist Raven is pretty much all I can find.
(I have very little experience of building mill decks so I'm not going to evalute the potential for a mill strategy.)
I'd be happy to hear people criticize my deck and my choices. Please tell me how wrong I am somehow...
) but decided to cut them for this very aggressive red-white build.
