Bruna, the Fading Light - Mono-W Moat Control

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Sinis
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

[mention]toctheyounger[/mention]: Another random suggestion: Have you considered Brought Back?

Cons:
It's one shot.
It needs two mana up
It doesn't really stop problems with exile/tuck.
It brings the targets in tapped, which is kind of bleh.

It looks, at first blush, perhaps a little goofy.

Pros:
It can bring back any permanent.
It can be pseudo ramp with Fetch lands or if you Ghost Quarter/Field of Ruin one of your own lands (or Emergence Zone).
It interacts nicely with Karmic Guide

Thoughts?

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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

Sinis wrote:
4 years ago
toctheyounger: Another random suggestion: Have you considered Brought Back?

Cons:
It's one shot.
It needs two mana up
It doesn't really stop problems with exile/tuck.
It brings the targets in tapped, which is kind of bleh.

It looks, at first blush, perhaps a little goofy.

Pros:
It can bring back any permanent.
It can be pseudo ramp with Fetch lands or if you Ghost Quarter/Field of Ruin one of your own lands (or Emergence Zone).
It interacts nicely with Karmic Guide

Thoughts?
I had considered it, but still on the fence. Similarly, in earlier iterations I ran Faith's Reward, but I often felt it was just too much mana to hold up in case of a wipe.

This one, I'm not sure about. It's a neat trick and FR is still a card I love too. I guess I'm just at the point of not being totally sure what deserves a cut for new additions. This could do some cool things, and even though it is mostly one-shot there is a chance of seeing it again with Mistveil Plaibs and ramp shuffling. Plus 2 is easier to hold up than 4.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

I like it a LOT more in a deck with 7+ fetchlands (aka 2+ color decks). I was actually just putting some consideration into it in my Trostoni deck. Its a real cool card but I think it gets much stronger when using a lot more fetchlands and or sac tactics.
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
I like it a LOT more in a deck with 7+ fetchlands (aka 2+ color decks). I was actually just putting some consideration into it in my Trostoni deck. Its a real cool card but I think it gets much stronger when using a lot more fetchlands and or sac tactics.
Agreed, in respect to lands. I don't run even dirt-poor fetches here so it's probably a little irrelevant to me in that respect. Besides, if we're looking sepcifically at lands I'd prefer Sevinne's Reclamation as a recurrable option - or just the Sun Titan that's in the list already. That being said I don't see a ton of land-sac or land-destruction, so I don't overly see the need to cover that aspect at present.

Return of artifacts/enchantments is a different story, but I'm sort of covered ok there too with Emeria Shepherd (I love that card so much). It could still be cool, but again, there's not a ton of stuff here that I'm super keen to cut at present.
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

My dudes, I have joined you in the fold of Mono-w Bruna players. My decklist is quite similar to [mention]toctheyounger[/mention]'s, though it has some personal favourites on it. I've only played three games, so it's probably not worth reporting most of the differences (I won all three, but my meta is super casual and people are experimenting with new stuff). Allow me to regale you with some options you may not have considered:

Marshal's Anthem: In all three games, I had plenty of mana. Loads of it. Boats of mana. The game I drew Marshal's Anthem, it was a rock; I kicked it four times, bringing back Sun Titan, Grand Abolisher, Stonecloaker and Angel of Serenity. I would wager that Marshal's Anthem is good a fair amount of the time. Even rezzing two or three really choices targets is very powerful (and two targets is a mana cost similar to Bruna's).

Angelic Renewal: I drew this one game, to minor effect. I played it turn two, and a Solemn Simulacrum on turn 4. I got a second set of triggers out of the Simulacrum, and it helped catapult me into the mid game. Realistically, this card is just a pre-paid 2 mana resurrection. But, it very much likes Sun Titan (on account of Sun Titan bringing it back into play when Angelic Renewal recurs Sun Titan). Almost all of our cards would be okay with a two mana recursion, and it also allows to 'bank' a pickup from our darling, Emeria Shepherd.

Bounty Agent: While not as stellar as the previous mentions, I found Bounty Agent pretty good. Often, I would want to disrupt problematic generals. They can be activated in response to Magus of the Tabernacle triggers, is vigilant, can carry a Sword of the Animist, is on tribe, passes the Sun Titan test... It's not an all star, but it very much fits in as easily-recurred removal for a likely feature of your opponent's decks (they cannot bring in planeswalkers or lands, but are happy to lay most targets low).

The other main difference is my mana base. I play two allied fetches, Terramorphic Expanse, and Evolving Wilds along with Myriad Landscape. Ghost Quarter is my chosen land destruction, and the purpose for these fetches and Ghost Quarter is to use Brought Back and Sun Titan. Many of my turns were consumed by Sun Titan recurring a fetch land. So often, in fact, I found Gift of Estates and Weathered Wayfarar's to be a dead draws in the games I got them. I also found the fetches to be very powerful with Emeria Shepherd (especially in combination with Angel of Serenity, which made threatening combat almost impossible).

Cards I want to include:
Enlightened Tutor: Finding the second half of Scroll Rack/Land Tax would be wild. I think, also, it gives us a flexible out against swarms (you can tutor Ghostly Prison or Eye of Singularity), or artifact draw/ramp/boots. The card disadvantage, I think, would be worth it.

Mangara of Corondor: I want to be able to answer anything, and Mangara can be 'recruited' by Thalia's Lancers. Most of the time, I think it'll be one-and-done with Mangara, but it's not impossible for us to have High Market and repeated recursion. I'm wary of Mangara being slow/clumsy, but, it might be necessary for some things, like planeswalkers. Basically, Mangara would be an ultra-slow Unexpectedly Absent/Generous Gift.

Eiganjo Castle: My friend's decks are rife with deathtouch. Hapatra snake tokens, Ohran Frostfang, you name it. This might help some legends turn them back where they would otherwise die (Like Linvala, Keeper of Silence, or our general, Bruna). The opportunity cost is fairly low, and could be tutored by Thalia's Lancers or Weathered Wayfarer. This might be too narrow, however.

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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

Just my own take on things [mention]Sinis[/mention]

Marshal's Anthem - The anthem portion of this isn't very big because often we are dealing with a few big things. It is sort of nice to move Bruna to a 6 powered threat but outside of that I think the anthem portion here is kind of minor. My other issue is that the recursion bit is kind of redundant with Bruna. Its true that you can mash a big rez with it but I already have times where I have a lot of trouble getting things to my graveyard. The later you draw this effect the better it tends to be but I have seen plenty of games now where I have had issues getting to cast bruna in the first 10 turns because I have no rez targets. Granted, some games I struggle to find creatures at all.

Angelic Renewal - Its very surprising to me to hear you saying positive things for this one. This is an effect that you want sac outlets and ETB / Dies trigger value creatures with which is really not what my own list looks like. I can figure out some things that it would work well with but the idea of solemn on curve behind this and having him die quickly seems very much more optimistic for this card than I would really ever give it credit for on average. I looked through my own list and only 10/25 of my creatures have value on ETB / Death which really limits this a lot in my opinion.

Bounty Agent - Interesting to hear. It is nice that it doesn't exile itself like Mangara does. It still kind of makes me mad that it can't hit walkers and the delay between it being played and usable irritate me a little.

I actually have issues with having more lands than opponents quite often oddly enough. I have been doing some experimenting of late with Lotus Field in mono white due to it. Its sort of unfortunate with mana doublers and Emeria but it keeps a lot of other effects moving forward and it works really well with Thespian's Stage / Flagstones of Trokair assuming you are playing with Weathered Wayfarer.

Enlightened Tutor - I totally agree, its a second Mind's Eye or whatever else you need. It is card disadvantage but if you are getting some of your best card advantage from casting it I think the versatility is just fine. I also run Moat so I guess I have a little more diversity in my tutor options but most of the time I go for card draw to be honest.

Mangara of Corondor - My issue has always been the delay before you can activate it. If you don't draw it early enough it might just get you run down when you cast it. In a lot of ways it reminds me of Nevinyrral's Disk in that its always felt like I have to draw it way before I need it and see if it makes it. Sure, we can bruna rez it but it still feels slow to me.

Eiganjo Castle - Its not normally something I would find all that valuable here given the stats of bruna. That is kind of a narrow situation but really the only space this takes up is if you expect Blood Moon / Ruination / Back to Basics effects to be played against you or the space of reducing your basics for Emeria (angel and land).
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
Angelic Renewal - Its very surprising to me to hear you saying positive things for this one. This is an effect that you want sac outlets and ETB / Dies trigger value creatures with which is really not what my own list looks like.
I see it more as a quick and dirty rez to keep things out (even on our opponent's turn), and less of a value oriented card.

Like, if we're depending on Magus of the Moat to protect us, and they just kind of remove it... Angelic Renewal has our back. Same with someone killing Magus of the Tabernacle on our end step. Or if we want another rez out of Karmic Guide.

It might be meta-dependent, and a single event is obviously not a good data set. Maybe I'm just enamoured with the Sun Titan interaction.

I definitely hear you on the Mangara criticism. It may just be a bridge too far. It is rather slow.
ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
I actually have issues with having more lands than opponents quite often oddly enough. I have been doing some experimenting of late with Lotus Field in mono white due to it. Its sort of unfortunate with mana doublers and Emeria but it keeps a lot of other effects moving forward and it works really well with Thespian's Stage / Flagstones of Trokair assuming you are playing with Weathered Wayfarer.
I'm definitely going to consider playing this. I can easily play Flagstones and Lotus Field.

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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

Sinis wrote:
4 years ago
ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
Angelic Renewal - Its very surprising to me to hear you saying positive things for this one. This is an effect that you want sac outlets and ETB / Dies trigger value creatures with which is really not what my own list looks like.
I see it more as a quick and dirty rez to keep things out (even on our opponent's turn), and less of a value oriented card.

Like, if we're depending on Magus of the Moat to protect us, and they just kind of remove it... Angelic Renewal has our back. Same with someone killing Magus of the Tabernacle on our end step. Or if we want another rez out of Karmic Guide.

It might be meta-dependent, and a single event is obviously not a good data set. Maybe I'm just enamoured with the Sun Titan interaction.

I definitely hear you on the Mangara criticism. It may just be a bridge too far. It is rather slow.
ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
I actually have issues with having more lands than opponents quite often oddly enough. I have been doing some experimenting of late with Lotus Field in mono white due to it. Its sort of unfortunate with mana doublers and Emeria but it keeps a lot of other effects moving forward and it works really well with Thespian's Stage / Flagstones of Trokair assuming you are playing with Weathered Wayfarer.
I'm definitely going to consider playing this. I can easily play Flagstones and Lotus Field.
Most of the creatures in the deck can be picked back up by Bruna. Magus of the Moat is a bit of an outlier in that it could represent a large defense which could suddenly be completely missing but I think there are a lot of cards you could consider for a quick defense rather than trying to keep it in play. You could have a Darksteel Plate and put it on the magus instead for example or sit with a Dawn Charm in hand.

I guess I just think there are a lot of other options that could also be had. I do like the synergy of Angelic Renewal with Sun Titan but I also think that ultimately it has better synergy in a slightly different kind of build.
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

Generally agree with these assessments.

Renewal I'd looked at earlier, but it always seemed a little too niche to be remarkably useful here.

Mangara I had in the deck for some time. To me, the best way to get your fill from it is blink effects. It'll still be slow, that's how it is, but if you can get multiple activations you're doing alright. The reason I cut it is these effects just didn't really fit into the deck otherwise. I was running Restoration Angel, Stonecloaker and Eldrazi Displacer. Ultimately though it was too slow and not nearly consistent enough.

If I had the money, Enlightened Tutor would be a snap here.

I also really like the idea of Lotus Field and Flagstones if Trokair. I'd tossed up the idea of running cheap fetches but thought I'd prefer to have the plains for a higher concentration of Shepherd triggers. That being said they thin the deck, and it's another thing to res with Sun Titan right? They're probably worth making room for.

I've looked at Bounty Agent before - it bugs me that it can only hit legendaries. Creatures, that's fine albeit a little more pigeon holed than I'd like. Anything else, you're looking at a very short list of potential targets. It just doesn't quite seem good enough to me.
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
I also really like the idea of Lotus Field and Flagstones if Trokair. I'd tossed up the idea of running cheap fetches but thought I'd prefer to have the plains for a higher concentration of Shepherd triggers
The Lotus Field thing appeals to me because I like the idea of always being 'behind' on lands. If you have a t1 Weathered Wayfarer, you can probably repeatedly activate them until they're dealt with. Lotus Field also lets you easily use the other 'behind' land searches pretty effortlessly; float mana, play Lotus Field, play the 'comeback' card. This is also more reason to use Brought Back, if that's of interest.

The only anti-synergy I'd be worried about is Emeria the Sky Ruin, and Endless Atlas. It'd be unfortunate to be set below what we needed for either.

As for fetches and Emeria Shepherd... Fetches always get plains, so you'll always get the plains landfall trigger. In fact, with Emeria Shepherd and an Evolving Wilds, you'll get two triggers; the first permanent will go to hand, and the second will put it on the battlefield (from the fetched plains). I found that there was some great flexibility with being able to crack a fetch on someone else's turn to rez something at instant speed, so it's not completely functionally identical that way, either.

I don't believe fetching plains changes the density much; the impact of fetching lands, unless you do it a ton (like a dozen over the course of the game) will not meaningfully affect your odds of topdecking a plains. I mean, it does affect your odds, but, I think the advantages from Sun Titan (or Sevinne's Reclamation if you're running it) probably outweighs it.

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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

Sinis wrote:
4 years ago
toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
I also really like the idea of Lotus Field and Flagstones if Trokair. I'd tossed up the idea of running cheap fetches but thought I'd prefer to have the plains for a higher concentration of Shepherd triggers
The Lotus Field thing appeals to me because I like the idea of always being 'behind' on lands. If you have a t1 Weathered Wayfarer, you can probably repeatedly activate them until they're dealt with. Lotus Field also lets you easily use the other 'behind' land searches pretty effortlessly; float mana, play Lotus Field, play the 'comeback' card. This is also more reason to use Brought Back, if that's of interest.

The only anti-synergy I'd be worried about is Emeria the Sky Ruin, and Endless Atlas. It'd be unfortunate to be set below what we needed for either.

As for fetches and Emeria Shepherd... Fetches always get plains, so you'll always get the plains landfall trigger. In fact, with Emeria Shepherd and an Evolving Wilds, you'll get two triggers; the first permanent will go to hand, and the second will put it on the battlefield (from the fetched plains). I found that there was some great flexibility with being able to crack a fetch on someone else's turn to rez something at instant speed, so it's not completely functionally identical that way, either.

I don't believe fetching plains changes the density much; the impact of fetching lands, unless you do it a ton (like a dozen over the course of the game) will not meaningfully affect your odds of topdecking a plains. I mean, it does affect your odds, but, I think the advantages from Sun Titan (or Sevinne's Reclamation if you're running it) probably outweighs it.
I'm not too fussed about being behind or ahead on lands either way - Weathered Wayfarer hasn't come up a ton for me, and Land Tax, while it has the same clause, really only needs one or two activations for you to hit your land drops. Which I guess is why it's so valuable. Ideally you want as many triggers as you can get, but you don't desperately need them.

I'm not overly worried about Emeria or Atlas either. Emeria is such a slow burner anyway, so it'll go off if it goes off regardless, and there's enough available fetch to help this along as it is, just in terms of Knight of the White Orchid, Land Tax, Sword of the Animist and draw triggers.

I think in terms of adding cheap fetches, the extra shuffling is worth it, and granted, it's not a huge difference in thinning, but the more cards you see the better, right? Seems reasonable to add them to me. They were an absolute revelation adding them to my Nissa build, but I do have a lot more land recursion there. Nonetheless, additional landfall triggers, colour fixing, shuffles, and Sun Titan are all reasonable justifications for adding them. I still think in terms of Brought Back, it's ok, but not stunning. I still think Sevinne's Reclamation would be preferable for this due to repetitive value and not having to hold up mana for it. Either would do just fine. Even without them, Mistveil Plains is at least an indirect way to get extra value from them if you can't get to Sun Titan.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

I recently added both Ranger of Eos and Ranger-Captain of Eos to my list which has increased the amount I do see Wafarer a bit. Most of me adding them was because Serra Ascendant is that nutty that I am willing to have a few tutors for it but wayfarer is good too. I really wish there was a third reasonable one drop for white but for a long time I have had a hard time beyond these two. Soul Sisters mostly don't add up enough for this format and the other option I sometimes consider is like.... Planar Guide.

Karoo can also help to some degree with land counts while keeping your mana up. I don't resort to it very often but its another option that can keep some of these effects live without missing hits. Its also worth mentioning that with instant speed options (wayfarer and Tithe) you can crack a fetchland and then do them before resolving the fetch to be down a land in play. Its too bad that
Lotus Vale is SOOOOOOOOOOO much worse than Lotus Field.

Small things, but they work.
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

Yeah, I've run Karoo before. It's just. So. Slow. I wouldn't recommend it just for the land count thing, it's not worth it.

I definitely take advantage of the land drop timing thing myself. Difficult if you're first in the turn cycle, but waiting till second main for your land drop for the turn can help, as well as the aforementioned ability use in response to cracking.

The other thing that helps me from time to time, strangely enough, is Thalia's Lancers. It can grab you Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Kor Haven, and Flagstones of Trokair.

It's definitely the small things here - making the deck work for you in whatever ways you can is the key to making it work,

[mention]ISBPathfinder[/mention], how has Ranger-Captain of Eos worked out for you? I really like the control effect that comes with it, even if I don't like the price.
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
I think in terms of adding cheap fetches, the extra shuffling is worth it, and granted, it's not a huge difference in thinning, but the more cards you see the better, right?
Oh, definitely. Scroll Rack wants the shuffles, too, especially if we're digging for a specific kind of answer.

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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

Well, that does it then. I'll add the fetches, and scrape through my folder for $20 credit for Lotus Field and Flagstones of Trokair. They all seem worth it for a consistent ramp package.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
Yeah, I've run Karoo before. It's just. So. Slow. I wouldn't recommend it just for the land count thing, it's not worth it.

I definitely take advantage of the land drop timing thing myself. Difficult if you're first in the turn cycle, but waiting till second main for your land drop for the turn can help, as well as the aforementioned ability use in response to cracking.

The other thing that helps me from time to time, strangely enough, is Thalia's Lancers. It can grab you Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Kor Haven, and Flagstones of Trokair.

It's definitely the small things here - making the deck work for you in whatever ways you can is the key to making it work,

ISBPathfinder, how has Ranger-Captain of Eos worked out for you? I really like the control effect that comes with it, even if I don't like the price.
Both of the rangers have been fine so far. I justified them by looking at them in comparison to Baneslayer Angel (a card I also run). I can get a Serra Ascendant out for the same or less mana than Baneslayer with those two cards and the option to get wayfarer as well or instead is nice. I am slowly adding more complex things to do with the landbase which is increasing the relivance of Wayfarer in my mind as well. If you are going to go deep with the Lotus Field / Flagstones / Thespian's Stage I would probably also recommend looking at Ranger of Eos / Ranger-Captain of Eos as increasing the chances of wayfarer will also help make that land setup relevant.

It does amuse me that if you do execute Flagstones into Lotus Field into Thespian's Stage that you put yourself behind one land and ramp 3 mana beyond hitting the three land drops.
toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
Well, that does it then. I'll add the fetches, and scrape through my folder for $20 credit for Lotus Field and Flagstones of Trokair. They all seem worth it for a consistent ramp package.
I still haven't tested it super deep but its kind of amusing to think about the possibilities. Lotus Field does put us behind on the Emeria plan but its interesting. No idea how it will pan out in the long term but its interesting to test / toy with.
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
I still haven't tested it super deep but its kind of amusing to think about the possibilities. Lotus Field does put us behind on the Emeria plan but its interesting. No idea how it will pan out in the long term but its interesting to test / toy with.
The anti-synergy is real, but, I wouldn't be super-concerned because the fail-case is actually quite narrow (based on my experiences with Emeria in previous monowhite decks).

You would have to draw both Emeria and Lotus Field, not draw Land Tax/Tithe/Gift of Estates*, not draw Sun Titan (or have Sun Titan answered in short order with no backup non-Bruna rez), and have significant rez targets for Emeria (i.e. no graveyard hate or land D from your opponents, plus a few good dead creatures).

In the event Emeria is actually useful, you could sac utility lands that aren't currently relevant instead of Plains. If you didn't play it early, you could hold Lotus Field until you have enough Plains.

*: I also run Endless Horizons. I find once we have enough lands, you can go all-in on it with relative impunity (I mean, we still want Emeria Shepherd to work) to improve your future draw parity, and in the early game, stocking only 3-4 plains makes people think twice about wasting removal on it.

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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

Another random synergy with what we are talking about here, you could run Dust Bowl in place of a Strip Mine effect as it would be cool with Flagstones of Trokair. I usually try to run 1-2 Strip Mine effects in most of my decks so it would just be taking one of those places. I just figured while we were talking about minute land interactions it could be another thing to consider. :p
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

Honestly, I like the idea of burst mana with Lotus Field, and long term I'm not overly worried about Emeria, the Sky Ruin. I think with enough minutiae in tricks and shenanigans we can mitigate the negative aspects of Field.
ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
Another random synergy with what we are talking about here, you could run Dust Bowl in place of a Strip Mine effect as it would be cool with Flagstones of Trokair. I usually try to run 1-2 Strip Mine effects in most of my decks so it would just be taking one of those places. I just figured while we were talking about minute land interactions it could be another thing to consider. :p
This is a good point, it's probably worth looking into if you run these. I've found similar value in Field of Ruin in terms of triggering landfall, although obviously it doesn't do quite the same things with Flagstones. Ghost Quarter could do a poor man's impression of Dust Bowl too, I guess.
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
Ghost Quarter could do a poor man's impression of Dust Bowl too, I guess.
Ghost Quarter is in my list.

I'm very circumspect about my land destruction usage, so it's quite rare for me to use it in the early game. Setting yourself back is sometimes okay with our 'catch up' cards like Land Tax.

... also a Magic Christmasland scenario is to t1 plains → t2 float W, ghost quarter our own plains, find a plains, Brought Back Ghost Quarter and Plains. There are also angles with Faith's Reward, which I also run.

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SocorroTortoise
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Post by SocorroTortoise » 4 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
4 years ago
I recently added both Ranger of Eos and Ranger-Captain of Eos to my list which has increased the amount I do see Wafarer a bit. Most of me adding them was because Serra Ascendant is that nutty that I am willing to have a few tutors for it but wayfarer is good too. I really wish there was a third reasonable one drop for white but for a long time I have had a hard time beyond these two. Soul Sisters mostly don't add up enough for this format and the other option I sometimes consider is like.... Planar Guide.
Mother of Runes/Giver of Runes are decent ones. I've run those a few times and they're typically headaches for the table to the point where they've started to draw removal, which is honestly a pretty good scenario for a 1 drop.
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

How do we all feel about Cavalier of Dawn?

Pros:
It's a body that answers nonlands. Not quite a Generous Gift, but, we have other ways of torching lands.
It can retrieve an artifact or enchantment. We have a fair number of artifacts that will eat removal. Even in that absence, we can pick up a Mind Stone, Aura of Silence, or similar.
The WWW in the cost is a welcome sight for Nykthos.

Cons:
Not on tribe.
It doesn't exile (unlike much of our targeted removal).
Body has no evasion, and is kind of unremarkable.

I'm tempted to give it a shot; I don't think it's earthshatteringly good, but flexible removal isn't horrendous. It can also has a kind of weird modal quality to it; it can destroy itself (and leave behind a 3/3 Golem for you), so you can retrieve an artifact/enchantment right away if it's necessary.

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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

I think it's reasonable value. I'd be happy enough to include it if it were a human knight. Personally I think it's sort of a card that does 2 things ok rather than one thing really well. I run Generous Gift in the list, and I think personally for now I'd be happier to have that than the Cavalier. That being said, the synergy with Nykthos is nice.
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Sinis
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

I played another couple of games with Bruna tonight. One game, I got to play Lotus Field with Land Tax, and drew into Terrain Generator. It was about as great as you would imagine. Later in the game, I ate two Ulamog Annihilator triggers, and still didn't lose the game.

What worked:
Our new suite of lands. Lotus Field was about as awesome as I'd want, and I can't really complain about performance. I never recouped the lands from the graveyard, despite getting Sun Titan (I had to discard a lot from Land Tax, and Titan dug up a lot of those; I never really reached the bottom). Ruins of Trokair also replaced itself in an Ulamog attack. I'm not about to sleeve up Crucible of Worlds for this deck, but, part of me wonders if we should give it a try.
Batterskull: It's a new inclusion for me; the lifegain was phenomenal (I was over 90 life at one point), and the bounce ability was relevant once.

What did not work:
Worship: This card failed hard. Despite generating resilient boards, there is always a crack in the foundation that can be exploited. It also generated a disproportionate amount of hate; one player, once they saw Worship, was adamant that the table should somehow set me to 1, and then they could use the 'very rare' lose-life effects to put me out of the game. Only, like, that didn't matter. I died with no creatures while Worship was out. It's possible that the single player who dictated those terms had it out for me, but... I don't see it surviving a concerted effort from a player who wants you out. I had kept it in with the inclusion of Enlightened Tutor to handle some exceptions, but, I can see it will do less than I'd ever want it to.
If you're looking for data, there's a thumbs down for it here.

What was kind of meh:
Bishop of Wings: Got me 8 life after a living death, and then my angels got exiled denying me the spirit tokens. This was the 'Worship game', so it's not clear that Bishop would have been better or worse for me. I died with no creatures left (if only the Angels had left spirits behind!)
Gift of Estates, Knight of the White Orchid, Tithe: I have consistently found these cards to not work well. Despite drawing and playing Lotus Field one game, I was only able to get a Knight Trigger once, post-annihilator trigger from Ulamog. For whatever reason, I find we just hit our land drops, over and over. If I were to cut one, it would be Gift of Estates; Tithe Plainscycles (and, in fact, takes a Plains slot in my deck), and Knight can at least carry a Sword of the Animist around. I think further testing is required before I axe Gift of Estates; it's no Land Tax, where when it works, it works spectacularly well.
Marshal's Anthem: I rezzed three with it. Nothing spectacular, and it prevented me from losing the game. The two damage over two turns from the anthem effect actually helped me push a player out, but, the card felt pretty bleh in the end. It may have been that I had eaten a Bojuka Bog and my juiciest reanimation targets were unavailable, but just having bodies was helpful against Liliana, Dreadhorde General. It was less of a rockstar tonight than in previous games, and I can't help but feel there is something better for this slot, but I can't seem to find it. We always seem to have the mana for it, but there are going to be games where we don't, and it'll suck in those. Is it just an overcosted Resurrection with a higher buy-in and multikicker? Should we just play Reya Dawnbringer?

Edit: Fixed some card tags.
Last edited by Sinis 4 years ago, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by ISBPathfinder » 4 years ago

In general, cards that are visible that stop you from dying are always kind of fragile. I would say I would probably run Platinum Angel over Worship given the angel synergy but I think both are very low on the list of things I would consider.

Tithe - it always gets 1 for 1 and sometimes gets you a 2 for 1. Its good enough I often justify it in place of a land drop in the list. Its not great when its only getting you one land but I think the chance to get two is good enough to run it.

Marshal's Anthem - I think when it is at its best is when an anthem effect is more reasonable. Given that we already have graveyard reliance with our commander I prefer not to go too deep on graveyard reliance in this deck. Things like Emeria Shepherd, Emeria, the Sky Ruin, and Sun Titan all together and I mostly avoid going graveyards beyond the obvious mono white includes and angel synergy effects.

Side note, I did manage to get and play Palace Jailer on curve. That card grows on me more every time I see it. This deck is very good at defending and regaining monarch and the extra draw seems really great for here.
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