PrimevalCommander wrote: ↑1 year ago
Greater Good get this card back in the deck NOW!
But seriously, only of the best cards in my deck and will never get cut.
This is still one of my less confident cuts so I am certainly not above putting it back in. But I like the way the deck plays without it, so I don't really have a strong desire to add it back in quite yet.
Altar of Dementia, odd that I saw zero artifacts in your deck, but if I could only have 1, it would be this one. Combo enabler, sure, but with
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed being part of your normal wincons, this can mill yourself early, and mill out opponents late. A+ card.
Importantly, Mikaeus isn't in the deck anymore. There is a real chance that part of my primer still lists him somewhere but the actual decklist doesn't. I haven't updated the actual Primer part of the list in quite some time so some of that might be out of date. As to the card itself, it doesn't really play in a space that I like as I don't want to do any self milling. And without a combo enabler, milling opponents becomes less appealing. Not to say it is bad by any means; just not quite where I personally want to be.
Nethroi, Apex of Death, I passed on
Eerie Ultimatum as an easy-button card and went with Nethroi. Dude is a 1 card army that we can mutate from the graveyard for multiple iterations of mass reanimate. Yes, it needs a creature to mutate, but you play almost 40 of them.
7 mana is already quite tough and is one of the reasons I cut him. Ultimatum is 7 mana but is far more useful. He is also more vulnerable to hate as removing the creature in response stops him cold. Ultimatum at least requires a counterspell or grave hate which are a bit harder to come by for opponents.
Since I don't run combos, I felt having an "I win" button in the deck seemed appropriate and this one is one of the more fun ones without being too oppressive.
Kura, the Boundless Sky recently took the spot of
Ulvenwald Hydra for testing. Doesn't ramp, but comes down earlier, still blocks flyers well, and with
Takenuma, Abandoned Mire,
Boseiju, Who Endures Diamond Valley Volrath's Stronghold,
Phyrexian Tower, and more, getting 3 of these becomes like a 3 card tutor that can solve so many problems. Sucks it doesn't trigger
Luminous Broodmoth though.
This one I can get behind. I like Hydra for a few reasons (it ends up being a great creature to sac to Diamond Valley late game, for example), but having to wait an extra turn and only getting one land out of the deal is less impressive than Kura getting me 3. Even if they do go to hand. The main issue is that Kura does have to die which means it is a bit tougher to get her to trigger. Probably not tough enough to matter, but still tougher. Not triggering for Broodmoth is a pain but likely not a huge issue all things considered. I might find room for Kura somewhere even if I don't necessarily cut Hydra for it.
Body Launderer is in my sideboard because I can't find a spot for it, but it does offer card filtering, discard for fattys in hand, and a loopable creature that hits a ton of utility guys, and some finishers if you have a sac loop engaged.
My main issue is that it is limited to its power. Though, the Connive trigger might be more powerful than I am giving it credit for. Even if it is just to filter for lands if needed. I have it in a couple other decks and I am not opposed to it here. Though I think I am sort of in the same boat as you where it simply becomes tougher to find a spot for it.
Woodfall Primus Combos with Mikaeus and Broodmoth. Repeatable body for sac loops and
Diamond Valley life gain. Throwback fatty that just does too many fun things for me to warrant replacement. You seem to have optimized your list for
Bane of Progress, which I respect. I just have a soft spot for the old Treefolk. Only card in my deck that can reveal for
Murmuring Bosk
To be fair, that it combos with those cards is one of the reasons I don't have it. I avoid "infinites" as much as I can and an 8 drop that generally is going to be a little slow outside the loop isn't all that appealing. It is a good card, I am certainly not denying that, but my 8 drop slot is currently covered by
Ashen Rider which does the same (gets rids of 2 permanents) when not considering loops. And it gets rid of creatures which isn't irrelevant.
Yosei, the Morning Star is one of my late game win-cons. Sort of a griefer card, but only if used obnoxiously. Great when you whittle the table down to 1v1 to shore up a victory by locking the last stubborn player who refuses to admit defeat. Usually does good work for me.
I have thought of Yosei in the past but found he never was necessary. I think he has a use and I think of the griefer cards, isn't even close to being oppressive enough to care about that (without being obnoxious about it, as you mentioned). It just never quite made the cut for me but is another that I don't really feel strongly against.
Mana Dorks: I'm glad you don't play them. I expected to see 4-6 of them in Karador lists by default now, but with how often my creatures die, I value long term consistency in land-ramp over short turn speed of mana dorks. A breath of fresh air to see the land rampers instead of all the dorks that get wiped after a couple turns.
I can see both approaches and their benefits but I vastly prefer land ramp over dorks since the dorks, especially in this deck, just don't do enough. This deck also expects to wipe the board itself multiple times throughout the game which makes dorks even riskier. I too prefer running few dorks
I don't think any of your suggestions are necessarily bad or completely out of left field (though I think Altar of Dementia is likely the one I disagree with the most; mostly by default though so I don't disagree with any others that much). They introduce various play patterns that I have personally shied away from but arguably the cards you mentioned would find a good home in the deck and it would be hard to argue against their inclusion in a general sense. I wouldn't be surprised to see any/all of those cards in another list if I say across from one.
Priorities, right?
