** (Don't forget to site me at the top of your deck details if you use any of my ideas, and throw me a thumbs up if you like the deck!)
Primer for Ally Mc-Deal(work in progress)
This deck can mill the opponent out, drain life, or beat down. Let your allies die, bring em back to life. gain a lot of life, and win win win...
The deck is built around self-mill and casting Return to the Ranks or
Rally the Ancestors
on your turn 4. You want to prioritize playing cards that get creatures in your graveyard. Sometimes, you just want the lifegain creatures against decks like zoo and burn. Most of all, you want to play to your outs, which is Rally or Ranks. It's tempting to gain 20 life by playing those Ondu's, but it's better to play the seer in order to either get the creatures already on the board into the graveyard or to find your win card. The deck is complicated because it depends on the board state.
I used to think you had to have a way to mill in your opening hand, but I found out that the deck has enough redundancy that it does well without that. With the addition of the Satyr Wayfinder and extra seer, you're more like to get the cards you need as you go on. If not, you can establish a good enough board state until you get the cards you need.
Rational for how the deck is built:
Mana Base
The reason I don't have Cavern of Souls and
Ally Encampment
is the need to produce the double white when needed. I would go 3 colors, but there isn't enough come into play abilities for me to justify that. A couple guys have done just 3 colors, but that is more agro oriented.
Also, I recently went all fetch lands/fetchable lands. With my old mana base, I found that I would get color screwed more ofter, so it seems like it's better to do it this way.
Resurrection SpellsReturn to the Ranks works well for this deck because my creatures are 2 cmc or less. It's also nice because I don't have to have 4 lands out and they don't exile at the beginning of my next upkeep.
Rally the Ancestors
works well because it manages to get my whole graveyard out and it is instant speed. This gives me more play against counter spells before I get the chance to side in Boseiju.
The reason I do not run
March from the Tomb
is because of the other creature types I run in the deck. I need to be able to bring Viscera Seer back as well as Hedron Crab. Viscera seer is key for activating Zulaport Cutthroat and Hedron Crab can be used as fodder for the seer or brought back in order to put more things in my graveyard. Viscera is also good for helping you look for your win combo, along with doing some blocking then sacking to get more out of your creatures. It's also hand when you've rallied and don't want your creatures to go back to the graveyard.
_
Turn by turn Breakdown
_Opening hand The deck has enough redundancy with mill and sac outlets, that you don't need to have mill in your opening hand. On game one, you basically need two lands and a couple of spells. You can also get away with just having Hedron Crab in hand and just draw into the resurrection spells. Sometimes if you are on the draw you can go with one land and scry for the other. Also, since the deck is 4 colors, play close attention to what you can cast in your opening hand. The deck is geared to winning/combo'ing on turn 4, so you are going to not want to wait on mana. This is usually not a problem 90% of the time though. I also make sure not to keep a hand with only resurrection spells in hand. I'd rather draw into those and have creatures on board.
Turn one If you have a Hedron Crab in hand or a Viscera Seer in hand, play the crab first, and save the seer for turn 2-3. It's usually prioritized like this 1)crab, 2)seer, 3)Freeblade
Turn two It really depends on how many lands you have in hand. If you have a Harabaz Druid, you almost always want to play it first. If you don't have a harabaz druid, and have a Return to the Ranks in hand, depending on your mana, you're going to want to play a
Halimar Excavator
or another creature. It becomes a bit more complicated with adding Satyr Wayfinder. If you were playing a non-interactive deck, like say Boggles, Harabaz is a better choice than Satyr. But going up against Jund, Satyr is better because you're more likely to get that extra land and also puts things in your graveyard. The biggest things to keep in mind is to play to your win condition while asking yourself if you can stay alive if you make this play.
Turn 3 This turn really depends on the board state. If you are playing agaisnt an aggro deck, already have lifegain creatures in graveyard, and you have a rally/return in hand, then you are going to want to go ahead and use it in order to keep your life up. Otherwise, you may just want to play another card that will help the number of creatures in your graveyard to grow. There are a couple of other options you may need to be aware of, such as anticipating an Ugin wipe, counter spells, and so on. It is important at this point to be very reactionary and anticipatory to what your opponent may play and how it will affect your combo.
Turn 4 The easiest turn. You should be able to go off by this turn. Sometimes, you do have to wait untill turn 5 to go off.Criteria for going offI usually aim to put about 12-15 cards in my graveyard, though it varies based on chance. In general, pay attention to your graveyard and the creatures you have in play. You may be able to cast rally twice if you have Viscera Seer in the graveyard and some other creatures. You can do this by scrying with him. You can do a bunch other strategies with two resurrection spells in hand. Keep in mind what type of responses your opponent may have.
How should I sideboard while playing this deck?
_** According to TMBRLZ, in combo you want to sb out as little as possible. So the key question is, "Can I win with the cards I have in the mainboard?"
_**Matchups:
**_
vs any bloodmoon decks
You usually want to bring in the nature's claims since we run so many non-basics. FETCH FOR BASICS
MerfolkI think this is a hit or miss with this match-up. It really depends on if you are able to gain life then turn 4 combo. If not, unless you are gaining more and more life per turn, then you lose due to the lords. Most of the time, you're not going to be able to avoid having an island, so you're not going to be able to block a good bit of the time. This match-up is similar to the elves match-up in that it matters who goes first. You will need to figure out how to slow them down if you're on the draw, which may require some tempo coming in from the sideboard. Also, be aware that they have access to counter-magic, so bring in Boseiju on your second turn. They also play Relic of Progenitus, so bring in those nature's claims
Out:
Hallowed Fountain
, Temple Garden, Flooded Strand, Kalastria Healer, Hada Freeblade, Zulaport CutthroatIn: Boseiju, Who Shelters Allx3, Nature's Claimx3
GrixisGoing against this deck seems to be more of a war of attrition. It's usually a good idea to save the
Rally the Ancestors
to play on their turn when they have blue mana up. That way you have an opportunity to play something on your turn without as much interference. On your 2nd game, try siding out a couple of creatures or spells instead. So far, I've tried Taigam's Scheming and Hedron Crab, but I don't know which is the best choice.
Burn
The matchup here is pretty good. Usually, I beat burn because of the amount of lifegain and resurrection I have. The most challenging part of the matchup is knowing when to not shock yourself and when to shock yourself. As long as you do not play shock lands into play untapped when you don't have to, you are usually golden.After going 3-1 at my local game store, I learned that this deck is actually racing burn in order to start gaining life. So you will need to shock yourself a couple times. This worked well for me.
Also, you may need to bring in Nature's claims for graveyard hate.
Collected Company Combo
I find that Darkblast really works well against this deck, if you have it in your side board. If not, it seems this deck can outrun coco combo. I've recently tried taking out the Viscera Seer for the Pithing Needle, so I can Pithing Needle their Viscera Seer, and that seems to work.
Blue Tron
Side in the Boseiju, Who Shelters All for two lands. Bring in the arbiter for another creature.
Pyromancers Ascension:
Black Eldrazi:Usually, this deck doesn't play any of the eldrazi that let you mill, so the actual milling part shouldn't be a big deal. The real challenge is working around Relic of Progenitus and other graveyard hate. They main board it, so be prepared. If you don't see any hate right away, it is worth racing them with the combo since you can win by turn 4. If you do see the hate, you have two options depending on your hand: If you multiple Return to the Ranks or
Rally the Ancestors
, you can make them pop the first relic, then combo off. If you don't, I would recommend going the long route. Try milling them out and draining them of life before they beat you down. You are more likely to lose this second way, but as of right now, this seems like the best option.
death and taxes/hatebears, etc
In this match up, I think it is key to anticipate Leonin Arbiter most of all. Our deck has so many fetches that we don't want to get caught without the ability to pay the 2 mana. Also, expect them to bring in cards like Rest in Peace, so it would make sense to go ahead and bring in Nature's Claim. Besides that, the match up seems to be a walk in the park. They don't have any crazy beaters, and if you can't combo, you can rely on life gain for the win.
Scapeshift
You have a pretty good matchup vs
Scapeshift
. There are a couple of different builds out there, so you have to change up how you play against them a little bit. In general, lifegain is pretty big along with milling the opponent instead of self-mill.
_ UW Control _
This match-up can be pretty grindy. You want to bring in the Boseiju to deal with the counter magic.
ElvesAfter playing a couple of matches, I find that this match depends on two critical factors: Who goes first and if they have Ezuri, War Renegade out. This is one of the big factors in the first game. For the 2nd game, I would board in Pithing Needle in anticipation of the Scavenging Ooze.
Suicide ZooBLOCK BLOCK BLOCK. Try to get a bunch of life gain going... nuff said?
Infect
After a match with infect, I learned an important sb strategy for this deck. When bringing in Melira, Sylvok Outcast, make sure to keep your lifegain peeps in! I had melira but had the wrong guys out. I still might've lost, but it's a good thing to remember for next time.
In: Melira x3Out: 1 Wayfinder, 1 Hada, 1 viscera
Don't forget to site me at the top of your deck details if you use any of my ideas. thx!
