Raff, Weatherlight Stalwart - Creatures and Spells

[Rumpy5897]

I tuned into the DMU preview stream and saw Raff, Weatherlight Stalwart. The card turned out to be a signpost uncommon for the UW archetype, but it still read kinda cool - so I want to cast spells, but then I also want to have creatures, and then if I match the two up then I get to tack on a cantrip. Neat! I've been in the market for an UW deck for a while, so I got cooking. Outcome!

Creatures and Spells

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

The Head Honcho

1 Raff, Weatherlight Stalwart

Ramp

1 Brought Back

1 Deep Gnome Terramancer

1 Knight of the White Orchid

1 Loyal Warhound

1 Sevinne's Reclamation

1 Stormscape Familiar

One-Drops

1 Children of Korlis

1 Hard Evidence

1 Kami of False Hope

1 Mother of Runes

1 Recruit the Worthy

1 Serra Ascendant

1 Siren Stormtamer

1 Soul's Attendant

1 Soul Warden

1 Spiritual Visit

Go-Wide

1 Battle Screech

1 Call the Coppercoats

1 Devout Invocation

1 Gather the Townsfolk

1 Monastery Mentor

1 Murmuring Mystic

1 Nomads' Assembly

1 Poppet Stitcher

1 Rabble Rousing

1 Raise the Alarm

1 Secure the Wastes

1 Servo Exhibition

1 Sram's Expertise

1 Talrand, Sky Summoner

Card Advantage

1 A Little Chat

1 Anticipate

1 Consider

1 Impulse

1 Isochron Scepter

1 Of One Mind

1 Opt

1 Peer Through Depths

1 Startle

1 Telling Time

Interaction

1 Access Denied

1 An Offer You Can't Refuse

1 Counterspell

1 Entrapment Maneuver

1 Generous Gift

1 Grand Crescendo

1 Martial Coup

1 Path to Exile

1 Pongify

1 Protect the Negotiators

1 Rapid Hybridization

1 Selfless Spirit

1 Swan Song

1 Swords to Plowshares

Pump

1 Ajani Goldmane

1 Akroma's Will

1 Archangel of Thune

1 Basri's Solidarity

1 Candlekeep Inspiration

1 Collective Effort

1 Felidar Retreat

1 Leonin Lightscribe

1 Signal Pest

1 Unbreakable Formation

Lands

1 Adarkar Wastes

1 Arid Mesa

1 Command Tower

1 Deserted Beach

1 Fabled Passage

1 Flooded Strand

1 Glacial Floodplain

1 Glacial Fortress

1 Hallowed Fountain

1 Irrigated Farmland

1 Marsh Flats

1 Misty Rainforest

1 Mystic Gate

1 Nimbus Maze

1 Plaza of Heroes

1 Polluted Delta

1 Prairie Stream

1 Prismatic Vista

1 Reflecting Pool

1 Scalding Tarn

1 Sea of Clouds

1 Windswept Heath

5 Island

8 Plains

Approximate Total Cost:

Some construction/gameplay thoughts:

• The deck tries to accomplish what it can via creatures and spells. This is particularly visible in the ramp section, which eschews rocks just about entirely. The Familiar has been an all-star. This was brought to my attention early on by pokken.
• One-drops are nice. You play one, you play Raff, and turn three you're good to go. Running all the one-mana body making spells I could find, and some one-drops of various levels of usefulness.
• The deck likes to operate at instant speed, so there's a bunch of interaction, and then some cantrips to sink value into if there was no need to interact. Typical draw-go stuff.
• Once enough bodies have been amassed, try to clean up with some pump. So far I've seen Cathars' Crusade just about every game, so I have little data on how the others perform. Jazal was good the one time I saw him.
• There are some fun mini-synergies in here. Some of the filler chumps sacrifice for effects, and can get picked up by recursion spells (which are primarily meant to ramp). Ramping via recursion spells means running as many fetches as possible, which in turn works nice with Felidar Retreat. I run the soul sisters, which in turn fuel Archangel of Thune.

The deck is quite fun to pilot. One memorable game had me steal the win by countering my own big spell with Access Denied to sufficiently fatten my board via Cathars' Crusade. I'd like to fit in shenanigansy spells like Comeuppance as a form of "don't mess with me", as I don't really have a deck like that. Still trying to get the proportions right, seeing if there's obvious misses. I'm staying away from the most obnoxious stuff, so I'm unlikely to put in Mana Drain and whatnot. Any thoughts, Nexus collective?

Changelog

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The Quest Begins!

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Creatures and Spells

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

The Head Honcho

1 Raff, Weatherlight Stalwart

Ramp

1 Brought Back

1 Deep Gnome Terramancer

1 Gilded Lotus

1 Knight of the White Orchid

1 Loyal Warhound

1 Sevinne's Reclamation

1 Stormscape Familiar

One-Drops

1 Children of Korlis

1 Hard Evidence

1 Kami of False Hope

1 Mother of Runes

1 Recruit the Worthy

1 Serra Ascendant

1 Siren Stormtamer

1 Soul's Attendant

1 Soul Warden

1 Spiritual Visit

Go-Wide

1 Battle Screech

1 Call the Coppercoats

1 Devout Invocation

1 Gather the Townsfolk

1 Midnight Haunting

1 Monastery Mentor

1 Murmuring Mystic

1 Nomads' Assembly

1 Poppet Stitcher

1 Rabble Rousing

1 Raise the Alarm

1 Release the Dogs

1 Resolute Reinforcements

1 Secure the Wastes

1 Sram's Expertise

1 Talrand, Sky Summoner

Card Advantage

1 A Little Chat

1 Anticipate

1 Consider

1 Impulse

1 Isochron Scepter

1 Opt

1 Telling Time

Interaction

1 Access Denied

1 An Offer You Can't Refuse

1 Arcane Denial

1 Counterspell

1 Entrapment Maneuver

1 Generous Gift

1 Grand Crescendo

1 Martial Coup

1 Path to Exile

1 Pongify

1 Rapid Hybridization

1 Selfless Spirit

1 Swan Song

1 Swords to Plowshares

Pump

1 Ajani Goldmane

1 Akroma's Will

1 Archangel of Thune

1 Cathars' Crusade

1 Eldrazi Monument

1 Felidar Retreat

1 Jazal Goldmane

1 Signal Pest

1 Soltari Champion

1 True Conviction

Lands

1 Adarkar Wastes

1 Arid Mesa

1 Command Tower

1 Deserted Beach

1 Fabled Passage

1 Flooded Strand

1 Glacial Floodplain

1 Glacial Fortress

1 Hallowed Fountain

1 Irrigated Farmland

1 Marsh Flats

1 Misty Rainforest

1 Mystic Gate

1 Nimbus Maze

1 Plaza of Heroes

1 Polluted Delta

1 Prairie Stream

1 Prismatic Vista

1 Reflecting Pool

1 Scalding Tarn

1 Sea of Clouds

1 Windswept Heath

5 Island

8 Plains

Approximate Total Cost:

30.08.2022 Changes

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30.08.2022 Changes

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Out:

1 Arcane Denial

1 Cathars' Crusade

1 Eldrazi Monument

1 Jazal Goldmane

1 Gilded Lotus

1 Midnight Haunting

1 Release the Dogs

1 Resolute Reinforcements

1 Soltari Champion

1 True Conviction

In:

1 Basri's Solidarity

1 Candlekeep Inspiration

1 Collective Effort

1 Leonin Lightscribe

1 Of One Mind

1 Peer Through Depths

1 Protect the Negotiators

1 Servo Exhibition

1 Startle

1 Unbreakable Formation

Approximate Total Cost:

[Rumpy5897]

Fiddling to try to find a sweet spot.

30.08.2022 Changes

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Out:

1 Arcane Denial

1 Cathars' Crusade

1 Eldrazi Monument

1 Jazal Goldmane

1 Gilded Lotus

1 Midnight Haunting

1 Release the Dogs

1 Resolute Reinforcements

1 Soltari Champion

1 True Conviction

In:

1 Basri's Solidarity

1 Candlekeep Inspiration

1 Collective Effort

1 Leonin Lightscribe

1 Of One Mind

1 Peer Through Depths

1 Protect the Negotiators

1 Servo Exhibition

1 Startle

1 Unbreakable Formation

Approximate Total Cost:

I caught myself relying on Cathars' Crusade for ending a bit too much for my liking, so I went after the less interesting finisher options and replaced them with weaker, but more on theme stuff. I noticed my non-removal instant/sorcery density could be better, so I took out some less efficient cards for a few extra refuels.

Deck outlook medium. It's still a bit permission dense for the group, and I just managed to combine my solitary wipe with an indestructibility trick to very little rejoicing. Still forced to rely on various finishers to try to bring it home, but this new crop feels cooler (if weaker). Still haven't worked in the cool juke stuff, would probably help a little with the whole permission angle as I could ease off that a bit more.

There's a bunch of cool stuff at 3-4MV that would be nicely synergistic with the tapping (Stonybrook Schoolmaster, Scaretiller, Zephyr Scribe). However, I haven't found myself short on creatures to tap for stuff, and they would be costly to deploy. I could go deeper on instant pump like Charge to further help close, I guess. The land-untap counters would be a nice deviation from the obvious permission spells, provided I can get comfortable enough operating at instant speed. I guess I could do Cathar Commando as a cheap flash body with a relevant ability. Lazotep Plating would be neat as it leaves a body behind while offering some semblance of protection against something. Some sort of spell recursion would be useful. There are things to potentially do, but I'd need to put games on the list to figure this sort of stuff out.

[Gamazson]

Based on some card research I have done while building Glenn, the Voice of Calm I have some recommendations.

Clever Lumimancer is a good one drop if you want a go tall option.
Pride of Conquerors, You Hear Something on Watch or Wojek Siren are solid buffs to replace Basri's Solidarity if you are not super attached to +1/+1 counters.
The untap abilities of Hope and Glory, Roar of the Kha, Tandem Tactics, or Triton Tactics would make them effectively self replacing, though those cards are lacking in payout overall.
Migratory Route might be a fit for token production.
Serra Redeemer is probably more reliable than Archangel of Thune. You obviously won't get the crazy amount of counters that you would get in a combo with a soul sister, but you also don't have to worry about a 5cmc creature being a dead spell with out.