Glissa Sunslayer's Morphin' Manifestin' Spirit Tokens

Dragonlover
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Post by Dragonlover » 4 years ago

Gorm/Virtus

Commanders

Approximate Total Cost:

So, my first newly built deck in a while. The concept of having to get into the red zone to get things back from the graveyard intrigued me, starting with the core problem: in these colours, how do you reliably connect with a 5/4? I decided to go down the route of making blocking decisions as complex as possible for my opponent, which fed nicely into my love for the morph mechanic. I tried to go for a mix of ETB and combat damage triggers, just to keep things a bit flexible. EDIT: Storrev turned out to be a bad fit, so I switched to Gorm/Virtus as explained downthread.

Took it for it's first outings last night, seems pretty solid so far if incredibly grindy when on the back foot. Did manage to ult Ugin, the Spirit Dragon the turn I played him thanks to The Elderspell though, which was pretty cool. Overall I really enjoyed playing the deck and it mostly did what I wanted it to, but some way of rapidly getting back in the game after a couple of wraths would be nice.

Don't really have enough data for what to cut yet other than possibly Reliquary Tower, but I would like to run something that lets me check the top card at will to help with manifests. Dauthi Embrace might be a fun way of getting my creatures through as well, although it's possibly a bit mana hungry.

I've played a few games with the deck now and let me tell you, there's nothing like having multiple 2/2's that aren't actually 2/2's for totally different reasons! I had to buy a bunch of the Khans block overlays so we could all keep track of what's going on!

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09/07/19
Out: Cabal Executioner
In: Cavalier of Thorns

13/09/19
Out: Glissa, the Traitor, Mark of Sakiko, Mold Shambler, Hystrodon, Satyr Wayfinder
In: Bane of the Living, Gift of Doom, Strionic Resonator, Scroll of Fate, Thieving Amalgam

11/02/20
Out: Druid's Repository, Chitinous Cloak, Glaive of the Guildpact
In: Mystic Forge, Trailblazer's Boots, Prowler's Helm

16/05/20
Out: Arashin War Beast, Hunter's Insight, Cobbled Wings
In: Blood Curdle, Vivien, Monsters' Advocate, Wings of Hubris

11/07/21
Out: Obscuring Aether, Trail of Mystery
In 2x Forest

Somewhere inbetween these I put Carth the Lion in for Ashling, the Extinguisher

20/09/21
Out: The Elderspell
In: Unnatural Growth

Out: Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
In: Augur of Autumn

03/05/22
Out: Offalsnout, Caustic Caterpillar, Fleshbag Marauder, Swamp, Disciple of Bolas
In: Drana, Liberator of Malakir, Jugan Defends the Temple // Remnant of the Rising Star, Saryth, the Viper's Fang, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Froghemoth

05/06/22
Out: Cavalier of Thorns
In: Mighty Servant of Leuk-o

15/11/22
Out: Phyrexian Arena
In: Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor

17/12/22
Out: Acidic Slime, Eternal Witness, Merciless Executioner, Ravenous Chupacabra, Serpentine Basilisk, Solemn Simulacrum, Ghastly Conscription, Golgari Charm, Jugan Defends the Temple, Kitesail, Whispersilk Cloak, Swamp, Forest, Ebonblade Reaper, Burnished Hart

In:Deathcap Glade, Boseiju, Who Endures, Garruk, Cursed Huntsman, Gilded Pinions, Sensei's Divining Top, Dauthi Embrace, Vampiric Tutor, Rankle, Master of Pranks, Ohran Frostfang, Toski, Bearer of Secrets, Old Gnawbone, Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion, Garruk's Harbinger, Yedora, Grave Gardener, Ancient Brass Dragon

05/02/23
Out: Temur War Shaman
In: Glissa Sunslayer
Last edited by Dragonlover 1 year ago, edited 17 times in total.
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Dragonlover
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Post by Dragonlover » 4 years ago

So with the new precons dropping, I had to think long and hard about what to do with this deck. I became unsatisfied with Storrev as a commander purely because when you're chucking out 5 commander damage every time he swings, you become way more of a threat than you need to. If he was a 2/2, he'd be fine, y'know?

Enter Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer. Draw and ramp(ish) all in one card, plus access to all the cool blue face-down relevant stuff? What's not to like? Mainly the fact that my 32-deck challenge already has the Sultai slot reserved for a deck themed around playing my opponents stuff, and I just wasn't jazzed about adding blue to this deck either, so I decided to just grab the precon to see about upgrades.

I mulled over the other B/G generals for a bit this morning and settled on switching out to Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons. However I don't have one of those, so made a mental note to pick one up and headed out to play some games at a mates. Decided to do the upgrades from the precon and after a couple of games realised that I could switch the general to Gorm the Great and Virtus the Veiled, so decided to give it a whirl.

"But Dragonlover, isn't that more aggro than Storrev?" I hear you ask. Technically, yes. However, I don't need to send Virtus out until I want to go in for the kill, which can be turn three in 1v1 games or turn twelve in a multiplayer game once I'm ahead and need to close it out. Admittedly, I've not tried the new setup in a multiplayer game yet, and if it turns out to be a terrible idea I'm tempted to try Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper out since it's a card I'm rarely unhappy to see as one of the 99.

As to the new stuff I put in today, Thieving Amalgam is incredibly good fun. If it ever makes it round a full turn cycle I'll be surprised.

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Post by Dragonlover » 4 years ago

So I'm looking at Throne of Eldraine for cards to add to this deck, and the only things that look like possibles right now are Rankle, Master of Pranks for the combat trigger and Witch's Vengeance because I can name whatever I like and my face down stuff won't die. Feel free to point out things I might have missed, but nothing else really leapt out during spoiler season.

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Post by Dragonlover » 4 years ago

As predicted, Thieving Amalgam is nonsense once its been in play for a couple of turns. I've spent the last few months moving house so didn't really get to play much, but did get to a couple of prereleases for Theros. It's later than I'd have liked, but here's my set review for Theros vis-a-vis this deck. Always tricky in a none-morph focused set, but there you have it.

Basically nothing. There's no exciting combat damage triggers, and I've got enough recursion going on that I don't really want to be using escape or Nightmare Sheperd. That said, Wings of Hubris might make it in as a better Cobbled Wings.

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 4 years ago

Cool deck is cool. Just some thoughts from skimming the list.

One thing that surprises me with the list is a relative lack of evasion. You have an awful lot of plain'ish walkers, and an awful lot of menace on equipment. Sure, Gorm gets some attention, but I can imagine the deck struggling with getting in through a relatively gummed up board. Some colour-appropriate options that worked pretty well for me in my various attempts at punching people have been Trailblazer's Boots, Prowler's Helm, Dauthi Embrace and Key to the City.

I remember I did a bit of Virtus & Gorm brainstorming around the time they came out, and largely arrived at Golgari equipments. Gorm happily carries various deathtouch stuff into battle, and Virtus can make good use of Rogue's Gloves/Mask of Memory sort of stuff. You could use these too, you don't seem to be drowning in draw.
 
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Post by Shabbaman » 4 years ago

Mystic Forge allows you to play colored morphs from the top of your deck.
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Post by Dragonlover » 4 years ago

Rumpy5897 wrote:
4 years ago
Cool deck is cool. Just some thoughts from skimming the list.

One thing that surprises me with the list is a relative lack of evasion. You have an awful lot of plain'ish walkers, and an awful lot of menace on equipment. Sure, Gorm gets some attention, but I can imagine the deck struggling with getting in through a relatively gummed up board. Some colour-appropriate options that worked pretty well for me in my various attempts at punching people have been Trailblazer's Boots, Prowler's Helm, Dauthi Embrace and Key to the City.

I remember I did a bit of Virtus & Gorm brainstorming around the time they came out, and largely arrived at Golgari equipments. Gorm happily carries various deathtouch stuff into battle, and Virtus can make good use of Rogue's Gloves/Mask of Memory sort of stuff. You could use these too, you don't seem to be drowning in draw.
Glad you like it!

Dauthi Embrace is one I keep seeing, thinking 'I should run that' then forgetting to actually pick up. I'd forgotten about the Boots and didn't even know Prowler's Helm existed. I'll probably swap them for the menace providers. I do alright for card draw between Disciple of Bolas, Phyrexian Arena, Grim Haruspex and Vraska, Golgari Queen. Manifesting cards from the library can often be like drawing them as well, especially with a Temur Sabretooth out.

I'd not considered deathtouch granting equipment, maybe I should slip a Basilisk Collar in?
Shabbaman wrote:
4 years ago
Mystic Forge allows you to play colored morphs from the top of your deck.
I had no idea that card existed, and that interaction would never have occurred to me in a million years, so thanks for mentioning it. That also makes me wonder what the interaction between Bolas's Citadel and morph is...

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 4 years ago

Oh yeah, another nice thing from my old Mardu aggro heap that should transfer here nicely - Necropolis Regent.
 
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Post by Segrus » 4 years ago

Dragonlover wrote:
4 years ago
That also makes me wonder what the interaction between Bolas's Citadel and morph is...
They don't, unfortunately. Since Citadel is considered casting a spell using an alternate cost ("rather than pay its mana cost"), you can't use it to pay for a card's alternate cost. Gatherer rulings affirms this: "If you cast a spell for another cost "rather than pay its mana cost," you can't choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, such as that of Spark Harvest, those must be paid to cast the card." Morph is an alternative cost.

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Post by Dragonlover » 4 years ago

Ah bugger. Oh well, would have been fun.

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Post by Dragonlover » 4 years ago

Made a few swaps, also trying out Mystic Forge in place of Druids' Repository.

Also, the people have spoken, and it looks like this is the next one of my decks to get a primer. Not sure when I'll be doing that, but it'll happen some point this year. Still need to update Golos...

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Post by Dragonlover » 3 years ago

Mystic Forge seems alright so far, I've not lived the dream of casting a morph off the top but it has smoothed out my draws. I also can't believe I literally only just during typing this post realised that Sensei's Divining Top would be really good in this deck. I'll get on that at some point.

There's not a lot from the new stuff in the precons this deck wants. Currently looking at Cazur, Ruthless Stalker, Deadly Rollick and maybe Selective Adaptation. That's gonna need me to look through and see just how many of my creatures actually have keyword abilities before I pull the trigger I think.

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Post by Dragonlover » 3 years ago

I wasn't expecting the full spoiler to drop literally a day after going through the precon cards, else I'd have waited.

As ever, not a lot, but I'll highlight a few cards I've considered. Once again, an annoying lack of combat damage triggers.

Blood Curdle: Kill a thing, make something else harder to block. Seems reasonable, and Hunter's Insight hasn't really done a lot for me so that seems like a fairly easy swap.

Vivien, Monsters' Advocate: Yes please. Does most of what Mystic Forge does and more, gives me creatures, will occasionally tutor a thing. I assume it lets me cast my morphs face down from the top?

Boneyard Lurker: Could be alright, gets a thing back, make a guy bigger. Potentially worth putting on Virtus if only so that he doesn't die to literally every blocker in the game.

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Post by Dragonlover » 3 years ago

Got my stuff today, opened a full art Vivien, Monsters' Advocate so swapped that in for Arashin War Beast and also threw in Blood Curdle for Hunter's Insight. Also swapped Cobbled Wings for Wings of Hubris since it's a straight upgrade that I just hadn't got round to.

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Post by Dragonlover » 2 years ago

Just leaving a note to myself here, want to try and get rid of all the ETB creatures and a few of the remnants from when Storrev was the commander (such as Offalsnout ). Planned replacements include:

Vorpal Sword
Rankle, Master of Pranks
Toski, Bearer of Secrets
Drana, Liberator of Malakir
Froghemoth
Garruk's Harbinger
Old Gnawbone
Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion
Ohran Frostfang
Jugan Defends the Temple // Remnant of the Rising Star

If I'm gonna do combat damage triggers, lets do combat damage triggers.

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Post by Dragonlover » 1 year ago

I've made a few of the above changes now, was gonna do the rest but just did a massive overhaul on Golos, so maybe next month. Deck's definitely playing more how I wanted it to now, which is nice.

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Post by Dragonlover » 1 year ago

I don't have the brainspace to go through every card from Baldurs Gate and do a full review, but the stuff I definitely want to include/am strongly considering is as follows:

Ancient Brass Dragon: Now that's what I call a combat damage trigger. Absolute slam dunk into the deck, no questions asked.

Criminal Past: Gives Virtus menace, and him being bigger means the life halving takes effect faster. Also makes Gorm a credible threat, meaning the commander damage win is a possibility.

Cultist of the Absolute: I'm not sure if I have enough fodder to keep this fueled, but if I do then putting all those buffs on Virtus can only be a good thing.

Ancient Bronze Dragon: Again, absolute nonsense of a card. Anything that makes my army of faceless 2/2's bigger is fine in my book. Also, opens the commander damage route.

Master Chef: This is a maybe. would be fun if I had both commanders out though, all my morphs coming in as 4/4's would change things up considerably.

Raised by Giants: Strong contender, if only because it makes Virtus that much harder to kill, and again, commander damage options.

Mighty Servant of Leuk-o: Gets crewed by two face down creatures with no wastage, draws me cards. Seems like a solid play.

So the reason I've been calling out the commander damage possibilities is that I basically never play Gorm, and when I do he rarely attacks, and I feel like I should get him into the red zone more. Also sometimes Virtus gets repeated stabbed and starts costing a prohibitive amount of mana, so having something to fall back on would be nice.

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Post by Dragonlover » 1 year ago

Bumping because I've done a huge overhaul. Practically everything is being done with combat damage triggers now, although I kept a few things because they just aren't replicable elsewhere (such as Meren of Clan Nel Toth). I finally picked up a Sensei's Divining Top and a Dauthi Embrace, both cards I've been talking about since building the deck. Also, my suite of decks is now complete with the release of Abaddon the Despoiler, so I'm looking at adding more powerful cards to the decks that need them, hence the Vampiric Tutor. I'll grab a Worldly Tutor at some point probably.

This is a really odd deck to play. Sometimes you just have a mess of creatures in various states of face up and face down, sometimes you hit all your planeswalkers, ult a Vraska and kill the table with Assassin tokens. Definitely gonna be one of my mainstays for years to come I think.

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Post by Dragonlover » 1 year ago

I've made the decision to change out the commander. I never played Gorm, and Virtus always gets played later in the game anyway, and after putting Glissa in I had her in the opening hand and the game was just so much smoother than normal. Not sure what to put in for Gorm yet, but he can just chill in the 99 until something interesting shows up.

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