Queen Breena's Full Contact Politics

[Chromaticus]

Oooh Lone Rider // It That Rides as One is chef's kiss ooh lala. 6/6 first strike trample lifelink? Yes please.

I still think oona's blackguard has to be a contender for any list.

Shaile, Dean of Radiance // Embrose, Dean of Shadow - flying and vigilance are really good keywords.

Hopeful Initiate is probably the best of the 1 -drops.

…

I would say, for the sake of readability it would make sense to put all your current 1's and 2's in the list too. It's tough to compare anything to Serra Ascendant and Esper Sentinel though :p

[pokken]

Oooh Lone Rider // It That Rides as One is chef's kiss ooh lala. 6/6 first strike trample lifelink? Yes please.

I still think oona's blackguard has to be a contender for any list.

Shaile, Dean of Radiance // Embrose, Dean of Shadow - flying and vigilance are really good keywords.

Hopeful Initiate is probably the best of the 1 -drops.

…

I would say, for the sake of readability it would make sense to put all your current 1's and 2's in the list too. It's tough to compare anything to Serra Ascendant and Esper Sentinel though :p

Yeah esper sentinel is just so gross in this deck. Would you like to pay 5? Guess I'll draw 3 extra cards a turn cycle for w.

I added black guard. Honestly that card feels like a great anti control card. Can pretty thoroughly strip a hand that way.

Any 1C flier should get a serious look in my book but man there are some gross ones.

[Chromaticus]

Segovian Angel and Will-o'-the-Wisp — man, one drops suck 😅 those are some of the good ones.

I'm curious is a big vigilance guy or a smacking lifelinker is better for defense in this deck.

Usher of the Fallen in case we miss on the 2 drop, or we just don't want to commit more to the board.

[pokken]

Segovian Angel and Will-o'-the-Wisp — man, one drops suck 😅 those are some of the good ones.

I'm curious is a big vigilance guy or a smacking lifelinker is better for defense in this deck.

Usher of the Fallen in case we miss on the 2 drop, or we just don't want to commit more to the board.

I think lifelink is *somewhat* better, but it's very slight. We have a few advantages for lifegain (stuff that pays life, etc.) so I prefer it.

That said, denying people attack/damage triggers with a blocker is possibly actually superior?

It's really three things to contend with for a "secondary" ability:
- value of some kind (resilience, card advantage)
- lifelink - life cushion
- vigilance - blocking

My gut instinct is that value should be our priority? so stuff like Nether Traitor would be ideal if we could friggin cast it.

If we had a Spirited Companion that had evasion we would want to prioritize that I think too. Or any saboteur effects?

[Chromaticus]

I'm not as sold on Nether Traitor as you - can you walk me through the situation you'd want to see him in versus Will-o'-the-Wisp, because ostensibly you're holding up a black mana.

[pokken]

I'm not as sold on Nether Traitor as you - can you walk me through the situation you'd want to see him in versus Will-o'-the-Wisp, because ostensibly you're holding up a black mana.

Wisp means keeping up mana the rest of the game while it's out to defend it, which is a massive tempo loss. Traitor means keeping up a mana when you might want to reactivate it bringing it back. It's a significant difference from a gameplay perspective.

Also, haste is really good. Post board wipe going Breena → Traitor for 7 is pretty solid.

BB is really the big problem there.

I forgot another 2 drop on my list which is Pack Rat - gotta give that a try in this deck. I've always got extra cards and rat does a nice job of using your mana in other people's turns (since I have to keep mana up all the time anyway).

[pokken]

Had a few games recently with this deck, and Alseid of Life's Bounty and Cliffside Rescuer were legit fantastic. Kinda want to add a couple others.

Scholar of New Horizons was really good too. Slam dunk for Breena.

I think I need to add some search hate at least to have the option, might add oppo agent or something for Liesa, Forgotten Archangel who is on my cut list.

[Chromaticus]

Good additions! Getting defensive abilities out of our early drops gives them just that little push of utility. Not cutting any lifelink fliers, but these are much better late than them, and nearly as good early.

[pokken]

I made a few tweaks here. Cut liesa and archivist for grand abolisher and speaker of the heavens which I think is probably really good. Will see.

Not maintaining deck list in the OP much but it's linked in my sig.

I'm thinking I will add hopeful initiate at some point here next time I make an order. Also thinking about cutting more fat.

[Moonlighter]

Any thoughts about The Ozolith as a backup for counters in case of removal? It makes for yet another thing your opponents have to deal with to slow this deck down. Having a lot of fun playing Breena. She does exactly as advertised. I don't have to politic, just remind people who they have to hit to get cards.

[pokken]

Any thoughts about The Ozolith as a backup for counters in case of removal? It makes for yet another thing your opponents have to deal with to slow this deck down. Having a lot of fun playing Breena. She does exactly as advertised. I don't have to politic, just remind people who they have to hit to get cards.

I have been thinking really hard about swapping ozolith in. It seems very strong. the main downside is right now we are super resilient to Hour of Revelation type sweepers, and Cyclonic Rift even is usually not that backbreaking (we lose our counters but we can just run out a couple dudes and Breena and be back in action).

Still it's a pretty solid turn 1 play, as long as you have a 2 drop.

Fundamentally though, I wonder how often the ozolith is going to outperform any random 1 drop creature?

That said, ozolith is not necessarily strictly a 1 drop, you could just play it later after you have a pretty strong set of counters established, and that sequences just fine with keeping our mana up.

If you were to make a cut from my list for the Ozolith, what do you think it would be? My instinct is Guardian of Faith -- which has been *horrible*. Never once done anything any good for me. I don't know why i just wind up dying to combat damage when I use it every time. It's like a sign that says "force me to protect my board then craterhoof me"

edit: talked myself into it, made that swap.

[Moonlighter]

I tend to get slapped in the 1v1, and people have started to cop to the fact that you need to kill Breena as the game winds down, so I think the Ozolith will help by adding an extra target for them to have to remove. I've never run into the Guardian of Faith, so I don't have a strong thought about its utility, so I'll probably axe that as well and see. As usual, the deck is fun to play, even when I lose, which is really all I'm asking for.

[pokken]

I tend to get slapped in the 1v1, and people have started to cop to the fact that you need to kill Breena as the game winds down, so I think the Ozolith will help by adding an extra target for them to have to remove. I've never run into the Guardian of Faith, so I don't have a strong thought about its utility, so I'll probably axe that as well and see. As usual, the deck is fun to play, even when I lose, which is really all I'm asking for.

I try really hard to avoid 1v1 by killing the board with inkshield or breena voltron.

Tonight I had two games, one lost to a t5 on the draw combo so just tapped out at a bad time.

The other game I won triumphantly with a ramp 10 or so off of cosmic intervention I had previously foretold. Three fetches and a scorched ruins.

Ruins plus 2, ci the ruins lands back and three fetches twice. Really bonkers.

I ended the game out of plains in my deck again.

The ruins lotus Karoo fetch ramp package is just so lit.

[Moonlighter]

I ended the game out of plains in my deck again.

Every game so far!

[pokken]

Every game so far!

Lol, it does happen a lot Been happening to you too?

[Chromaticus]

Speaker of the Heavens is legit! Double on the defensive and makes us primo attackers! My favorite part about this deck is scouring every new release for the 1 and 2 drops.

[pokken]

Speaker of the Heavens is legit! Double on the defensive and makes us primo attackers! My favorite part about this deck is scouring every new release for the 1 and 2 drops.

Yeah Speaker has been bananas good. I had it twice and it absolutely wrecked face both times.

[Moonlighter]

Every game so far!

Lol, it does happen a lot Been happening to you too?

Deep Gnome Terramancer and Land Tax have been the most frequent culprits in this regard - they just drain the deck of basics at a hilarious rate. It's a good problem to have because I hit my land drops^TM

[pokken]

Deep Gnome Terramancer and Land Tax have been the most frequent culprits in this regard - they just drain the deck of basics at a hilarious rate. It's a good problem to have because I hit my land drops^TM

Yeah dgt has gone crazy for me a number of times.

Do you have a current list?

[Moonlighter]

Yeah dgt has gone crazy for me a number of times.

Do you have a current list?

It's close enough to yours to not be worth noting differences. I tend to just copy a list these days and then experiment from there, so your last iteration is where I'm at. Fairly few alterations.

[pokken]

Something I need to remember about this deck:

Last night I had a pod spin up that was 3 players and I wanted to play this deck but Breena is awful in 3 pods. She really wants to get those cards flowing. Something I need to remember is that Tymna the Weaver is there as an alternate commander for this situation; she can draw 2 cards per turn against 3 players, which is about what this deck wants out of its commander.

I am noodling, also, on adding some more ways to draw cards in this deck. Right now my true card advantage suite is really limited, it's basically:

• Opposition Agent
• Tymna the Weaver
• Battle Angels of Tyr
• Sun Titan
• Agadeem's Awakening
• Cosmic Intervention
• Brought Back

(and to an extent Top/Land Tax..and I'm stretching Cosmic/Brought Back)

I feel like this deck might want a couple more ways to draw cards; possibly even another Orzhov legend that draws cards if I can think of one.

Another thought I had was adding Livio, Oathsworn Sentinel so when I run tymna I can have a partner that curves into her. He seems like a decent enough card too.

Keleth, Sunmane Familiar might also be okay.

Any other partner thoughts for Tymna?

--

I decided to cut Spirited Companion for Livio, Oathsworn Sentinel . This is one of my favorite decks, so having an option to play when it's 3 players is really nice

[Ruiner]

I feel like this deck might want a couple more ways to draw cards; possibly even another Orzhov legend that draws cards if I can think of one.

Your curve seems relatively low. Have you considered Dark Confidant ?

[pokken]

Your curve seems relatively low. Have you considered Dark Confidant ?

The average breena bolt is around 2.7 iirc. That's not a bad idea and one I'll keep on hand.

I wonder if I might prefer something more aggressive though. Maybe I can adjust the manabase to work with Dauthi Voidwalker. Or maybe this is a Black Market Connections deck. Man that's a very awkward spot on the curve but not the worst.

Wish there was an Oakhame Adversary in these colors.

[pokken]

Wow, so this deck is...waaaaaaaaaaaaay different without Breena adding power to the board. Played it in a 3 pod with Tymna and Livio, Oathsworn Sentinel the other day. It was fine. Very very slow. I had to rely on Sun Titan and Battle Angels of Tyr and eventually an Akroma's Will to clear the board.

Tymna the Weaver really struggles to play against modern creature heavy casual decks but I did draw enough cards from her to keep it going.

Grim Hireling put in some work with Battle Angels of Tyr generating quite a lot of ramp..

The deck plays like a straight up midrange deck with Tymna at the helm, drawing more cards consistently weirdly Tymna herself is hot garbage without Breena to pump her up. She's usually a 6/6 with lifelink in my games and that's great. Without any equipment or any other methods of pumping she is pretty medium as an attacker

Livio I just didn't cast, I had a Cliffside Rescuer (who did some work protecting Tymna from random removal).

[Chromaticus]

In a 3 player game, you might actually be served by the opposite end of the spectrum in your partner choice —

Akroma, Vision of Ixidor is the one that jumps out to me. After all, this deck is almost never not going to have a 2 drop, and we are already keyword soup tribal.

Alternatively, you could go with Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, since one drops are far less common.

I'm considering Verrak, Warped Sengir for something in here. Great attacker, and as mentioned in the other thread, goes bananas with our fetchland package.