WizardMN wrote: ↑1 year ago
I like the list overall. I think there are a few cards I wouldn't be sold on but I can't see many that are just absolutely out of place. It does look like you might be going for more of a controlling game plan with things like Yosei and Mindslicer. I used to have the latter but cut it due to a few reasons. But it does good work.
How good has Martyr's Cause been for you? I can see it being good for a sac outlet at least, but does the damage prevention do a lot? I am wondering if this would just be better as
Viscera Seer. Another card that I think ends up being better is
Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim over
Disciple of Griselbrand. It is almost strictly better and being able to get the white mana over just generic shouldn't be too difficult. I have never liked spending mana to sac my stuff though so I might even look to
Yahenni, Undying Partisan as an alternative to them.
We talked about it in my thread, but
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician would do good here. And it would work really well with
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed if you wanted to add him (and you like that playstyle). Mikaeus also works well with
Luminous Broodmoth and
Woodfall Primus to loop things.
Oreskos Explorer is probably the one card I would pick out as being the "worst". It is inconsistent enough and isn't actual ramp that I never liked it. I had tried it a long time ago and it never did what I wanted. I think a better alternative is likely just
Tithe. It is harder to recur but you always get at least one land, you can time it a bit better to get the second land (and you only need one person with more lands than you to get 2), and it works better in the late game than Explorer as the latter doesn't do much if you get it later and have already ramped a bunch.
tags fixed
The sac outlets are one of the primary ways I curb the combo potential of the deck.
Viscera Seer floats in and out of the deck, but generally having an unrestricted sac outlet on a creature is a big temptation for tutoring to complete an infinite combo.
Yahenni, Undying Partisan is in the sideboard now that I picked up a reprint copy.
Martyr's Cause is a cheap
Forcefield that doubles as a sac outlet. Once out, attacking me becomes unprofitable, so they just don't do it. So it creates virtual life gain as a
Ghostly Prison would. It is another power downgrade from the
Mana Altars, which I own, but don't want in this deck.
It could be a Yahenni in an instant and the deck would be better for it. Come to think of it, that may happen and I can keep Disciple of Grisslebrand. Thanks!
I just recently noticed
Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim is a functionally better Disciple of Grisslebrand, but I'm not too worried about it. I want my sac outlets to be low profile, and the removal ability draws more attention than the lifegain. My sac outlets are always targeted with extreme prejudice, so anything I can do to lower the threat profile is fine by me.
I liked
Oreskos Explorer when it was first printed, but there are better cards coming out. Though it has done good for me regularly filling my hand with land drops.
The Scholar of New Horizons may be a much better card than this one as it guarantees one land to hand if it lives and potential to actually ramp. I should try it in this place and put Dawntreader Elk in for Yavimaya Granger to see how I like them. Unfortunately neither of these actually "ramp" me on turn 2, but neither to their predecessors, so no loss there. Good cuts there I think.
Next I need some good card draw. I''m not sure
Generous Patron will give me what I want. So
Fell Stinger will probably retake that spot.
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician will be coming in, maybe better in Patron's spot.
Guardian Project has caught my attention since I don't to tokens, but do have creatures entering and leaving the graveyard regularly. I have just been cold to single-shot instant and sorcery draw for this deck. I really want that INCREMENTAL VALUE, but sometimes all you really need is a big refill once and a while. Though my creatures don't stay in play long and are not particularly large, so the power-matters draw spells loose a lot of appeal.