Haldan and Pako Play Fetch

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MeowZeDung
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Post by MeowZeDung » 3 years ago



Haldan, Avid Arcanist and Pako, Arcane Retriever seem like an awfully fun way to play a game of magic. Their effects and others such as Gonti, Lord of Luxury, Villainous Wealth, Etali, Primal Storm, or Yasova Dragonclaw that play with opponents' cards are a great way of scaling appropriately with the power level of the rest of the table. That scaling can also allow for a budget build to hang with decks that are a bit more optimized. So, without further ado, here's a budget take on Haldan and Pako:

Haldan and Pako Play Fetch

More Pako Triggers (3)

Approximate Total Cost:


The Early Game





After taking a good long look at the Avid Arcanist and his best friend, I see an optimal early play pattern of 1) accelerating into Pako, Arcane Retriever, who will be a good boy and hastily fetch some cards 2) swinging in again the following turn with the growing goodest boy to fetch more cards and then 3) playing Haldan, Avid Arcanist if Pako found something spicy to cast and the mana is available to do so or, if the mana isn't there yet, further developing the board.


1) Ramping Into Pako


Green opens up all sorts of ramp options for the deck, but how to decide which options are best? Pako's cmc of means that it would be best to ramp by turn 3 at the latest to play him at least a turn early, and since both commanders care about non-creature cards specifically, it would also be best to avoid creatures that produce mana.

Search for Tomorrow, Wild Growth and Sol Ring are great non-creature options at 1 mana. Sol Ring might require some budget concessions elsewhere depending on how little $ you're willing to spend, but most players have it in multiples already. It's definitely worth it as it can set up a turn 3 Pako.

At 2 mana there are plenty of non-creature options to choose from, but you want the most impactful:

Rampant Growth and Farseek are two of the most mana efficient for what they do.

Broken Bond is situational, but has very high upside in that it can get rid of an opponent's early mana rock while ramping you, or be used in the later stages of the game as cheap removal even if you don't have a land in your hand.

While getting additional lands onto the battlefield is preferable, Fertile Ground is cheap, it fixes your colors, and can be cast from exile with Haldan, Avid Arcanist from exile.

Explore and Growth Spiral can ramp early on or cycle later in the game when you just need action.



At 3 mana some of the best ramp in the format becomes available. Cultivate and Kodama's Reach just can't be beat for budget ramp since they replace themselves while putting an additional land into play. You will have to splurge a bit for Kodama's Reach depending on what your final desired price is.

3 mana also features a bunch of ways to get a land into play while not replacing the card with a land in your hand. Most of those options are not worth considering except for Search for Tomorrow, which you hope to suspend, and Grow from the Ashes, which puts lands into play untapped and can be kicked later for even more mana acceleration. Note that since Kicker is an additional cost and not part of the card's CMC, you can kick a spell cast from exile with Haldan, Avid Arcanist.

Overgrowth also deserves a slot even though it doesn't fix since it's essentially a slower Sol Ring that helps with green mana costs. The raw mana production is nice too since spells cast from exile with Haldan, Avid Arcanist can use mana as though it were any color.

Last, but not least, Myriad Landscape can sneak out an extra land in time for an early Pako, Arcane Retriever if you get it down on turn 1 or 2.

That gives the deck 13 ramp spells that can reliably allow Pako, Arcane Retriever to be cast by turn 4 or earlier. Once that good doggo is in play you'll want to sic him on whichever player doesn't have 3 or more power on the board. Do note that Pako's trigger goes on the stack upon attacking, not combat damage, so even if you are blown out by a flash creature, combat trick, or whatever else may pop up, you will still get a card from the top of each player's library into exile with a fetch counter on it. More than likely, however, at least 1-3 of the 4 cards exiled (assuming a standard 4-player game) will be a non-creature card and Pako will grow to somewhere between a 4/4 and an 8/8. Good boy!


2) Playing Fetch Some More!


So by now it is turn 4 or 5 and Pako, Arcane Retriever has fetched up to 4 non-creature cards to be played later with Haldan, Avid Arcanist. Additionally, Pako has devoured some kibble and has grown a bit. There are a couple of strong lines of play from this position.

The first is to simply make the safest attack with Pako then follow it up with an extra combat spell to pile on the fetch triggers and grow that puppy. Pako is essentially a draw engine for the deck, and up to 4 cards per attack is a sweet rate that you'll want to maximize. Relentless Assault is one way to do so within a reasonable budget price. Seize the Day is potentially out of budget reach depending on what you hope the final price of the deck to be, however I strongly recommend you make it one of the cards you splurge on and make up for elsewhere since it can allow for 3 attacks in a single turn.

Strionic Resonator is also a way to get more Pako triggers that you will want to stretch the budget for a little bit.





Another approach at this point is to go all in on +1/+1 counters and an enormous Pako.

Invigorating Surge is a new card that can beef Pako up very quickly.

Cards like Rancor, Temur Battle Rage, and Loxodon Warhammer help you connect with your opponent's faces.

Domri's Ambush and Ancient Animus can clear out a pesky blocker while growing Pako.




3) "Borrowing" Spells With Haldan and/or Developing Your Board


If you simply don't have a good way to grow Pako available, or no truly safe attacks to make, now is the time to start looking at Haldan, Avid Arcanist if there's something worth casting from exile, or developing your board the old fashioned way with spells from your hand.

Whether you're able to attack with Pako the turn you cast Haldan or not, you should have something exiled with a fetch counter from the previous turn that you can play. Ideal targets for casting from exile here on turns 4-6 likely include format staples in the categories of ramp, spot removal, equipment, defensive cards, or draw spells. Keep your eyes peeled for those Sol Rings, Swords to Plowshares, Swords of X and Y, Propagandas, and Fact or Fictions.

If you're really fortunate you'll snag an early Time Warp, Cyclonic Rift, The Great Henge, Helm of the Host or what have you :cool:

Keep in mind that Haldan, Avid Arcanist's trigger says that you "play" the non-creature card from exile, so you can also score an opponent's Gaea's Cradle or Ancient Tomb.

Those fun scenarios are great, and a big reason for playing these commanders, but sometimes the less thrilling but eminently respectable line of playing Haldan, putting an opponent's exiled dual land into play, and casting some ramp or removal from exile to set you up better for the long haul is better than whatever you have in hand, even if there wasn't anything "broken" exiled by your opponents on the Pako triggers.

However, sometimes the RNG powers that be will not smile upon you and Pako triggers will have hit almost nothing but lands and creatures up to this point. In such a situation the deck needs to be able to effect its own gameplan without relying on your opponents' cards. A strategy that can be played out using the strengths of the deck's colors with mostly non-creature spells while synergizing with the commanders is in order, and a focus on going wide AND tall with tokens and +1/+1 counters can check all of those boxes.



Mid-Game Tokens and +1/+1 Counters





Once you find yourself in a position where there's nothing irresistibly juicy to cast from exile with Haldan, Avid Arcanist, it's time to advance your own game-plan. With this deck that can be summarized as 1) going "wide" with tokens then 2) going "tall" with +1/+1 counters.

1) Going Wide


Once again you'll want to focus on non-creature cards that can produce the effect you want. For token production that means Krenko's Command, Dragon Fodder, Saproling Migration, Hordeling Outburst and Fungal Sprouting for your baseline token creation spells.

You have repeatable sources of token generation in Animation Module, Molten Birth, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar (who will also help you go "tall"), and Saheeli, Sublime Artificer.

Artifact Mutation pulls double duty as removal and token production, and both Second Harvest and Empty the Warrens can make a whole lot of tokens if you sequence your turns well.

If you're lucky, Pako will fetch an opponent's Doubling Season, Parallel Lives, or Anointed Procession for you!



2) Going Tall


Once you've got a board presence of a handful of tokens you'll want to buff them up.

Perhaps the most critical step is getting that first +1/+1 counter on your tokens. Wild Onslaught does it at instant speed, and could even potentially close out the game with the kicker.

Strength of the Pack does it at sorcery speed, but you get double the counters for only a couple more mana.

Song of Freyalise is slower, but you'll have some proliferate to help out with this, and the first two chapters can net you a lot of mana in the meantime.

Oran-Rief, the Vastwood and Novijen, Heart of Progress let you squeeze some token buff value from your manabase.

Durable Handicraft can work either with either the triggered ability or the activated ability.

Curse of Predation is the cheapest way to put counters on all your tokens at once, but it risks being ineffective without evasion or additional buffs. Its backup mode is to point opponents' attackers towards someone that is not you.

Since the first +1/+1 counters are so critical for the deck to function, you can make some concessions and run creatures that give this effect. Zameck Guildmage and Shaman of the Great Hunt pull double duty as token buffs AND card draw mana sinks.

Once you have those first +1/+1 counters on your tokens, you can really go to town with proliferate.

Courage in Crisis can keep Pako growing big and strong while also buffing tokens, and Contentious Plan and Tezzeret's Gambit can buff the token army while replacing themselves.

Evolution Sage gives you a repeatable source of proliferate, particularly good with Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, and many of the ramp spells. Flux Channeler has the potential to proliferate even more in a single turn. Animation Module can create tokens while also offering a mini-proliferate.

You'll definitely want some haste for your token army. Burst of Speed is a cheap, single use option. Domri, City Smasher buffs with power/toughness as well as haste and can be removal in a pinch, and Samut, Tyrant Smasher gives the team haste while also giving you a scry before connecting with Pako, Arcane Retriever to help you hit gas. Both reap the benefits of the various proliferate cards in the deck.

Finally, Simic Ascendancy is a slower source of token buffing, but it also gives you an alternate win condition that the other buffs, proliferate spells, and Pako can race toward.



Late Game Mana, Card Draw, and Evasion





By the late game this deck is hoping to have either done something sweet or degenerate against your opponents with their own spells, or developed a board full of tokens buffed with counters, but hopefully a combination of both. Nothing left to do except to go for the splashiest turns you can with 1) Big Mana 2) Big Draws and 3) Big Evasive Attacks.

1) Big Mana


The deck packs a good amount of ramp, and Haldan, Avid Arcanist should be able to borrow opponent's mana rocks, big mana lands, and ramp spells throughout the early and mid-game. Bonus points if you use his ability to borrow a Caged Sun, Heartbeat of Spring, Carpet of Flowers, or Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun.

Apart from the generosity of your opponents, the deck can make a lot of mana out of nowhere with Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter and Song of Freyalise. Ideally you will play one of these on your turn and tap your critters for mana on your opponents turn to cast something from exile with Haldan or perhaps a Inspiring Call from your hand. Speaking of which. . .

2) Big Draws


Once you have a token army and you need a way to take it over the top, a big draw spell can get you there along with more and more Pako triggers.

Take can turn your big doggo into a grip full of spells if you don't currently have a way to make him evasive.

Inspiring Call and Armorcraft Judge can draw you into proliferate or evasion goodies for the benefit of your token army.

Bred for the Hunt might need some help from a source of evasion, but the potential payoff is huge.



3) Big Evasive Attacks


When you think you have lethal on board you can drop a Herald of Secret Streams, Crowned Ceratok, or Skatewing Spy onto the table and slam the door shut on your opponents. These work best in conjunction with your haste enablers, instant speed pump effects, and extra combat spells.







Removal and Lands




There are a few slots remaining and you won't regret using them for some removal to deal with whatever your opponents throw at you.

First, Expel from Orazca and Memory Lapse offer cheap ways for you to not only deal with a problem, but also to setup a Pako, Arcane Retriever fetch.

Next, Chaos Warp is a great "deal with any permanent" spell that also has a chance of giving you a peek at the top of your opponent's library if the revealed card is not a permanent and doesn't end up going into play if you're on the fence about attacking with Pako, Arcane Retriever for whatever reason.

Finally, Aetherize is a pseudo board wipe that is a great way to deal with an opponent's alpha strike without affecting your token army.

The manabase is almost always the part of a budget deck with the most room for improvement, but we do get by with some sweet options in this deck.

Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, and Ash Barrens offer early fixing, and Myriad Landscape potentially fixes and ramps.

Rogue's Passage and Kessig Wolf Run give you a way to make Pako, Arcane Retriever evasive without using up a spell slot in the deck.

Mystic Sanctuary, Halimar Depths, Castle Vantress, and the cycle of Theros temples let you stack the top of your library and set up for a Pako, Arcane Retriever fetch.

Castle Embereth can squeeze some more token pump in on an alpha strike.

The hideaway lands can get something like Domri, City Smasher or Strength of the Pack out on the cheap.

Command Tower, Exotic Orchard, and Frontier Bivouac are the best fixing lands in the deck.

The rest are basics, which are vastly underrated. A budget list shouldn't be ashamed to run them one bit.






So that's budget Pako, Arcane Retriever and Haldan, Avid Arcanist. It ends up right around the $60 mark, but that's obviously subject to change based on where you get your cards, if you trade for cards, and what you already own.

Let me know what you think or what you would change. Feel free to discuss non-budget additions. Master Biomancer, Hardened Scales, Parallel Lives, and Prime Speaker Zegana would be a solid place to start.
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User avatar
OCPunisher
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Post by OCPunisher » 3 years ago

We meet again! Check out my Haldan/Pako thread here for more ideas
A deck for every color: Rakdos | Lord | Heliod | Yeva | Tetsuko | Scarab | Kykar | Kozz | Athreos | Haldan/Pako

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MeowZeDung
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Post by MeowZeDung » 3 years ago

Nice! Temporal Spring, Submerge, Mythos of Illuna, and Spitting Image are all sweet pieces of tech for a budget build.
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